A matched case–control study was conducted to determine the risk factors for development of candidaemia in patients requiring intensive-care unit (ICU) treatment for more than 48 h. Patients were matched according to length of ICU stay, age, department of admission, year of admission and sex. Forty-five patients with candidaemia were identified (0.6 cases/1000 patient-days). Candidaemia developed mainly in critically ill patients with multiple organ failure and end-stage disease. Candida colonization and gastrointestinal surgery were independently associated with candidaemia. ICU and total in-hospital mortality were 40% and 66.7%, respectively. Candidaemia-related mortality was 20%. Candidaemia treatment failure was the only variable associated with in-hospital mortality (p 0.008).