ObjectiveDespite the presence standard protocol for management of severe acute malnutrition case-fatality rates in African hospitals remain unacceptably high. The case in Ethiopia is not different from others. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess survival status and predictors of mortality among children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to stabilization centers of general hospitals in Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. A 24 months retrospective longitudinal study was conducted among 569 randomly selected medical records of children admitted to stabilizing centers. Both bi-variable and multivariable Cox regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of mortality. Association was summarized using AHR, and statistical significances were declared at 95% CI and P-value < 0.05.ResultsDuring follow up, 456 [82%] of children had got cured, 37 [6.65%] were absconded and 21 [3.8%] were died. The overall mean survival time was 41.93 [95% CI 40.17–43.68] days. Impaired conscious level [AHR = 6.69, 95% CI 2.43–19.93], development of comorbidity after admission [AHR 12.71, 95% CI 2.79–57.94] and being urban in residence [AHR = 2.73, 95% CI 1.12–6.64] were predictors of mortality. Therefore, interventions to reduce further mortality should focus in children having impaired consciousness level and who developed comorbidity after admission.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3937-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.