Introduction In a study conducted in Turkey, the National Burden of Disease and Cost-Effectiveness (NBD-CE) study, of the total number of deaths at the national level, 47.7% occur due to cardiovascular disease. The death rate from cardiovascular disease which was 28.9% in 1990 is estimated to be 6.3 in 2020 worldwide. Determining the level of individual cardiovascular risk and these risk level interventions has led to decrease in morbidity and mortality from heart disease. Methods This study, was conducted to determine the level of knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors among nursing students. The universe of this descriptive research was constituted by the 599 nursing students in medical colleges in the 2011-2012 academic years, and the sample was 559 students that had accepted to participate in the study. Socio-demographic data were collected by a questionnaire. "Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Knowledge Level (CARRF-KL) Scale" [Kardiyovask�ler Hastal?klar Risk Fakt�rleri Bilgi D�zeyi (KARR?F-BD) �l�e?i] which was developed in 2009 by Ar?kan and colleagues, was used. Results The mean age of the patients was 20.91 � 1.57 and 18.1% were male. 80% of students of the family's economic situation is moderate. 6.8% have no health insurance. Of the students, 33.3% have members with heart disease in the family. Seventeen percent of students smoked and 12% consumed alcohol. Among students, 9.5% were overweight and 2.5% were obese. Abdominal obesity rate was 14.2%. Conclusion Students' knowledge score of cardiovascular risk factors, failed to differ significantly according to the presence of obesity and abdominal obesity (p >0.05). Among students� cardiovascular risk knowledge score was significantly related to body mass index (p <0.05). This may be caused by the fact that 49.4% of students after they started school had mean weight gains of 9.21 � 8.99 kg. Students' knowledge of risk factors for cardiovascular disease is not at the expected level. The school class levels, presence of family members with cardiovascular disease, smoking and alcohol intake are related to the level of cardiovascular knowledge scores.

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