Objective: to characterize readmission of women associated with socio-demographic profile, cause of hospitalization, medical and nursing diagnosis and amount of time for readmission. Method: a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in 2012 with women readmitted after medical or surgical treatment, to a cardiologic public hospital in São Paulo. Results: among the 283 women readmitted, 54.8% were elderly, 38.2% with incomplete primary education, 45.9% married, 33.9% retired; 66.8% had hypertension. The length of stay was of 1 or 2 days and the interval for readmission was of 1 to 348 days. There was a significant association between medical diagnosis in the vascular area with ages>60 years (p=0.002), incomplete primary education (p=0.004), married (p=0.012) and nonsmokers (p=0.026). Conclusion: the readmission of women was associated to factors such as age over 60 years, retired, incomplete primary education, married, arterial hypertension, under vascular, coronary and myocardiopathy treatment, with hindered physical mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]