Introduction: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute inflammatory pulmonary lesion, associated with increased vascular permeability, increased lung weight, and loss of lung tissue. In Colombia there is no real representative data on the prevalence of ARDS, therefore, the aim of this study is to provide an overview of the current care of patients with ARDS in the intensive care units of Colombia. Materials and methods: An observational, multicentre, prospective cohort study was conducted on patients over 18 years of age with a medical diagnosis of ARDS in different intensive care units in Colombia, from 1 January to 31 December 2016. Descriptive statistics were performed with the statistical software SPSS version 2.0. Results and conclusions: To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first multicentre study that seeks to determine the real data on of the epidemiology of ARDS in Colombia. A total 6 intensive care units with 70 patients participated in the study. The clinical characteristics, demographic data and outcomes of these patients are described. More emphasis should be placed on seeking information on local epidemiology in order to widen the knowledge of the behaviour of this syndrome, as well as to establish appropriate strategies that will help reduce the impact on morbidity and mortality in Colombia. © 2019 Asociación Colombiana de Medicina Crítica y Cuidado lntensivo