According to the present invention it has been found that the administration of an anti-ADM antibody or an anti-adrenomedullin antibody fragment or an anti-ADM non-Ig scaffold may reduce considerably the risk of mortality in a patient having a severe chronical or acute disease. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention said anti-ADM antibody or an anti-adrenomedullin antibody fragment or anti-ADM non-Ig scaffold binds to a region of ADM that is located in the N-terminal part (aa 1-21) of adrenomedullin, (see FIG. 2). In another preferred embodiment said anti-ADM antibody or anti-ADM fragment or anti-ADM non-Ig scaffold recognizes and binds to the N-terminal end (aa1) of adrenomedullin. N-terminal end means that the amino acid 1, that is &ldquoY&rdquo of SEQ ID No. 21 or 23, is mandatory for antibody binding. The anti-ADM antibody or anti-ADM antibody fragment or anti-ADM non-Ig scaffold would neither bind N-terminal extended nor N-terminal modified Adrenomedullin nor N-terminal degraded Adrenomedullin in said preferred embodiment.
