The authors collected data on diagnosis, hospital course, and end-of-life preparedness in patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) with "full code" status (defined as receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation), compared with those who didn't. Differences were analyzed using binary and stepwise logistic regression. They found no differences in demographics, comorbidities, ventilator, hospital, or ICU days between groups. No-code patients were more likely to have higher APACHE-II scores (p less than 0.0001), gastrointestinal/hepatic conditions (p less than 0.01) and an advanced directive (p = 0.03). Patients dying with full code status were more likely to have previously coded (p less than 0.0001), and had more central lines (p = 0.03). Implications are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)