Objective: Determining the knowledge of risk factors of breast cancer and their frequency in the students of the Faculty of Health, Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Method: This transversal-descriptive study was carried out by means of a self-administered survey on the knowledge of breast cancer and its risk factors in 248 students.

Results: The knowledge of risk factors of breast cancer like tabaquism and alcoholism was 76.8% and 69.2% respectively, followed by heredity with 66.8%. Students know little about those risk factors ralated to hyperestrogenemia, like early menarch (14.4%), tardive menopause (7.6%), hormonal contraceptives (24,4%) and hormone replacement therapy for more than five years (8%), excepting personal cancer antecedents (57.3%). 72.4% of the surveyed students do not consume alcohol, and 12% of them smoke more than one cigarrette per day. Regarding protective factors, only 30% of the surveyed population practice the self breast exam each month, 34% eat fruits and vegetables at least once per day, 66% do not avoid greasy and high cholesterol food, and 21% do exercise.

Conclusions: It is necessary to strengthen education about breast cancer prevention in the subjects of the Health Area, and to encourage the practice of such prevention among students, in order to promote healthy life styles and take over the risk factors of breast cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases.