Mulheres com risco cardiovascular: revisão das pesquisas das pós-graduações brasileiras

Objective: To identify the cardiovascular risk factors in women, studied in dissertations and theses defended in Brazilian graduate programs in the area of health sciences. Methods: Critical and descriptive review, carried out in May 2017, in the theses and dissertations repository of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). As a search strategy, the keywords "cardiovascular risk factors" and "women" were used, without restriction on areas of knowledge. These keywords were used as a strategy to retrieve the largest number of publications on the object of study. National studies which addressed the research question and originated from graduate programs were included, and those with incomplete summaries or that were unavailable were excluded. No time limit was applied. Of the studies found, 23 were selected for analysis. Results: The main risk factors were: obesity, sedentary lifestyle, systemic arterial hypertension and the development of preeclampsia during pregnancy, also including hormonal aspects such as menopause. The studies have evidenced the importance of and the need for actions aimed at preventing and minimizing the risk factors, in addition to the development of specific strategies such as the consumption of vitamin A, eggplant flour and green tea. Conclusion: The risk factors prevalent among women are related to metabolic changes, multifactorial conditions, inadequate habits, and to life cycles such as gestation and the hormonal aspects, which suggests that health professionals need to develop preventive and control actions directed at such factors.