Background: Chronic diseases are considered a public health problem, especially those that facilitate cardiovascular diseases such as overweight, high blood pressure and alterations in glucose and lipid metabolism. Physical exercise is essential for the prevention of complications and the reduction of care costs for health institutions. Objective: To analyze the factors that are associated with the degree of knowledge of first level care personnel about the prescription of physical exercise in patients with cardiovascular risk. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional and prospective study was carried out applying the "Knowledge about Prescription of Physical Exercise" test, validated in Spanish by Ortín et al., which has a maximum of 100 points in each item and a global score, obtained from averaging the evaluation of knowledge about exercise, its prescription in general, prescription in dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus and arterial hypertension. Primary care doctors and nurses from Veracruz, Mexico were included. The variables age, sex, profession, perception of their knowledge, number of patients to whom they indicate exercise, training on the subject and institution where they work were studied. Results: 170 participants were included, 67. % doctors, 92.9% indicate exercise to their patients and 22.9% do not have specific training to do so. The global knowledge score of the participants was 43.9(±14.1). Being a doctor showed a difference (p<0.05) compared to nursing in the level of knowledge for the prescription of exercise in patients with hypertension (42.11±22.6 vs 34.3±19.9), diabetes (75.4±24.3 vs 58.9±29.1) and in global knowledge (46.2±13.9 vs 39.5±13.7), the rest of the factors did not show statistically significant values (p>0.05). Conclusions: The level of knowledge of the first level care personnel is below half of the score, except for diabetes, for which training is required for the prescription of exercise, since these personnel are a fundamental part of the prevention process. of cardiovascular diseases.