OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the etiologic distribution of hemoptysis in patients admitted to the hospital and to determine the relationship between the etiology and the amount and recurrence of hemoptysis. METHODS: The records of patients admitted to the hospital because of hemoptysis in 2008-2009 were investigated retrospectively. The amount of hemoptysis was considered as mild (<30 ml/day), moderate (30-100 ml/day), severe (100-600 ml/day), or massive (>600 ml/day). Any hemoptysis restricted to the last 1 month was considered as "new", whereas hemoptysis recurring for more than 1 month was considered as "recurring". Chi-square test was used in the statistical analysis. RESULTS: Records of 101 patients were included in the study (29 [28.7%] females and 72 [71.3%] males, mean age: 53.7±17.2). In 90.1% (n=91) of patients, hemoptysis was new, whereas it was recurring in 9.9% (n=10). The majority of cases were classified in the "mild" hemoptysis group (n=90, 89%). Moderate, severe and massive hemoptysis was determined in 3, 6 and 2 patients, respectively. Lung cancer (40.6%, n=41) was the leading cause of hemoptysis, followed by pneumonia (14.9%, n=15), pulmonary embolism (6.9%, n=7) and lung metastasis of extrapulmonary malignancies (5.9%, n=6). In 13 (12.9%) cases, the etiology remained unknown. There was no statistically significant relationship between benign versus malignant etiology and either "amount" or "recurrence" of hemoptysis (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Malignant diseases constituted almost half of the etiologies in patients hospitalized because of hemoptysis. The specifications of hemoptysis did not contribute to the etiologic diagnosis, at least in the present series.