Carbon-13 CP/MAS spectra have been obtained for seven polymorphic and solvated forms of cortisone acetate. For signals in the high-frequency region, the spinning sideband manifolds of the spectra recorded under slow-spinning conditions have been analysed to obtain the shielding tensor components for the five resonances at the highest frequency. These show characteristic values for given types of carbon and have enabled assignments of the C5 and C22 signals to be made with some certainty, providing firm evidence of cross-over between the shifts for these carbons between different polymorphs. Assignments are suggested more tentatively for the resonances from C3, C11 and C20. Comparison of chemical shifts for those forms with published X-ray structures enables conclusions to be drawn regarding hydrogen bonding in the remaining forms. Hydrogen bonding induces a high-frequency change in the isotropic chemical shift of approximately 3 ppm.