Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases occur worldwide and have progressively affected the female sex, without distinction of life context; however, the prison environment may intensify the risk of developing them.
Aim: To evaluate the cardiovascular risk in women deprived of freedom from a public prison in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Methods: This is a quantitative, cross-sectional and analytical study performed with all incarcerated women from the prison institution in the second half of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, through a structured questionnaire and statistical analysis through the RStudio.
Results: The results showed that, although participants presented low cardiovascular risk, the BMI values pointed to overweight in all the years analyzed, in addition to the waist-to-height ratio, conicity index, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio presenting similar means or that transcend the established cutoff point. There was an association between the anthropometric variables and age, conjugal status, education, alcoholism, systolic blood pressure, metabolic complications, sleep and a family history of non-communicable chronic diseases. The BMI variable showed association with all anthropometric variables related to cardiovascular risk, except to WHR.
Conclusion: When considering the ambience factor, modifiable risk factors may negatively influence the long-term health of these women, particularly in relation to the cardiovascular system. The found scenario, in relation to the cardiovascular risk, points to the need for interventions, regarding the clinical condition and life-styles adopted by this population.
Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Prison; Risk factors; Women’s Health.