Rationale, aims and objectives: In the global context of population ageing, understanding and monitoring intensive care use by the elderly is a strategic issue. National-level data are needed to overcome sampling biases that often limit epidemiologic studies of the critically ill elderly. The objective of this study was to describe intensive care use for hospitalized elderly patients using secondary data from the French national hospital discharge database. Method: Structured assessment of the national database coverage and accuracy; cross- sectional analysis of hospitalizations including at least one admission in an intensive care unit (ICU) for patients aged ≥ 80 years from 1 January to 31 December 2009. Results: In 2009, people aged ≥ 80 years accounted for 5.4% of the population but 15.3% of the 215 210 adult hospitalizations involving intensive care in France. In this elderly group, the mean age was 84.0 (± 3.56) years, and 51.6% were male. In-hospital mortality was 33.9%. The median time spent in the ICU was 3 [interquartile range (IQR), 2–8] days, the median time spent in hospital was 14 (IQR, 8–24) days and 9% of hospitalizations ended by the patient's death involved intensive care. A surgical procedure was included in 43% of hospitalizations. Medical and surgical diagnosis-related group hospitalizations were characterized by significant differences in volume, mortality, ICU days and costs. Conclusions: There was marked clinical heterogeneity in the population of elderly patients hospitalized in the ICU. These data provide baseline information and prompt further studies comparing intensive care utilization across age groups, between countries and over time.