The aim of this study is to investigate the recent trend over time of outcomes of patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) based on the Japanese administrative database. A total of 34,711 patients with DIC had been referred to 1,092 hospitals from 2010 to 2012 in Japan. We collected patients' data from the administrative database to compare in-hospital mortality within 14 and 28 days between periods. The study periods were categorized into three groups: 2010 (n = 8,382), 2011 (n = 13,372), and 2012 (n = 12,957). These analyses were performed according to the underlying diseases associated with DIC. The in-hospital mortality within 14 or 28 days of DIC patients with infectious diseases decreased between 2010 and 2012 (within 14 days: 20.4 vs. 18.1 vs. 17.9 %, P = 0.009; within 28 days: 31.1 vs. 28.7 vs. 27.7%, P = 0.003; respectively). Multiple logistic regressions also showed that the period was associated with in-hospital mortality of DIC patients with infectious diseases. The odds ratios of 2011 and 2012 for in-hospital mortality within 14 days were 0.86 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.77-0.97] and 0.84 (95% CI 0.75-0.94) whereas those for in-hospital mortality within 28 days were 0.89 (95% CI 0.81-0.98) and 0.83 (95% CI 0.76-0.92), respectively. However, there were no significant differences in mortality of patients with DIC associated with other underlying diseases between 2010 and 2012. This study demonstrated that in-hospital mortality of DIC patients with infectious diseases gradually improved between 2010 and 2012 in Japan.