Objective: to associate the risk factors and presence of coronary artery disease in patients submitted to myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. Coronary artery disease is one of the leading causes of death in Brazil and around the world so detecting it prior to clinical manifestations or complications is crucial to prevent disease progression. Materials and Methods: an observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study was performed from a randomized analysis of 226 medical records of patients undergoing myocardial perfusion scintigraphy between August 2010 and August 2015. Odds Ratio (odds ratio) of the following risk factors: smoking, type II diabetes mellitus, systemic arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, overweight, sedentary lifestyle, stress and family history. Risks attributable to the 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: among the factors analyzed, diabetes appears as the main non-avoidable risk factor for the disease with an adjusted odds ratio of 3.45 (95% confidence interval). Dyslipidemia with adjusted Odds Ratio of 2.45 (Confidence Interval 95%) and hypertension with adjusted Odds Ratio of 1.97 (95% Confidence Interval). Conclusions: the present study allowed to associate the risk factors and the presence of coronary artery disease in patients submitted to myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, with diabetes being the main non-avoidable risk factor for the disease. Among the avoidable risk factors (smoking, sedentary lifestyle, stress, overweight / obesity and overweight) none of them had a significant association with the disease.