SUMMARY Objective: To determine the risk factors associated with mortality in the high risk surgical patients hospitalized in the critical care unit. Materials and Methods: An observational descriptive and retrospective study, was made including 974 high risk surgical patients during five years in the post surgical critical care units (PSCCU) of the Hospital Militar Central and Hospital Universitario Clinica San Rafael, from Bogota, Colombia. All the variables which measure the evolution in the post surgical period were analyzed in the two PSCCU, and a logistic regression univariate and multivariate analysis were made, determining the risk calculation, with the corresponding confidence intervals, to define the variables associated with the highest mortality risk.