RESUMOCandida sp. é o agente fúngico mais frequentemente isolado e associado a altas taxas de morbimortalidade em pacientes hospitalizados. Apesar de bem estabelecida, a epidemiologia dessas infecções tem apresentado grande variação em relação à região e ao período estudado. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a incidência e a distribuição de espécies de Candida em quatro cidades da região metropolitana do estado do Rio de Janeiro, no período de 2013 a 2014. Um total de 100 cepas foi recuperado de diferentes estabelecimentos de saúde das áreas investigadas. Para a identificação dos isolados, ABSTRACTCandida sp. is the most frequently isolated fungal agent and associated with high morbidity and mortality rates in hospitalized patients. Although well-established, the epidemiology of infections has shown wide variation in relation to the region and the period studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence and distribution of Candida species in four cities in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro state in the period from 2013 to 2014. A total of one hundred strains were recovered from different health facilities of the investigated areas. For the identification of isolates, phenotypic tests (micromorphology on CHROMagar, germ tube and chlamydospore production) and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) were used. Of all the isolates, 68,0% belonged to the Candida non-albicans group and 32,0% belonged to the Candida albicans specie. Regarding clinical specimens, 44,0% of the studied strains were isolated from urine samples, followed by blood culture (13,0%). In this study, the hospital sector with the highest fungal recovery rate was the Intensive Care Unit, with 40% of the isolates. Among the four evaluated regions, the city of Niteroi was the one with the highest percentage of isolation (52,0%). 17,18,19,20 .