Introduccion: la anemia de celulas falciformes (ACF) es el trastorno hematologico hereditario mas comun y debido a las migraciones se ha convertido en una enfermedad de importancia mundial. La cardiomiopatia dilatada (CMPD) es una de las complicaciones mas frecuente. Objetivo: identificar los factores de riesgo para el desarrollo de CMPD en ninos mayores de cinco anos con ACF. Metodologia: estudio descriptivo de corte transversal, realizado con la informacion clinica de pacientes con ACF que asistian al servicio de pediatria del Hospital Infantil Napoleon Franco Pareja de Cartagena, Colombia, desde junio del 2010 a diciembre de 2012. Se realizo analisis bivariado seguido de un modelo de modelo de regresion logistica para reconocer los factores de riesgo asociados con CMPD, considerando como estadisticamente significativo un valor p<0.05. Resultados: la muestra de estudio fue 290 casos de ninos con ACF, de los cuales 49 (16.9%) presentaron CMPD. El analisis bivariado mostro que no hubo asociacion estadisticamente significativa con las variables de edad, sexo, talla o peso. La regresion logistica multivariada mostro que de las nueve variables introducidas, solo el nivel de hemoglobina, el numero de transfusiones sanguineas necesarias y la fraccion de eyeccion seguian estando estadisticamente correlacionados con la variable dependiente. Conclusiones: en pacientes pediatricos con ACF, la frecuencia de CMPD fue mas baja que la informada en otros estudios y se correlaciono inversamente con el nivel de hemoglobina y la fraccion de eyeccion cardiaca, mientras que estuvo directamente correlacionada con la necesidad de transfusiones. Rev.cienc.biomed.2013;4(2):275-280 PALABRAS CLAVES Anemia de celulas falciformes; Cardiomiopatia dilatada; Nino; Hematologia; Enfermedades geneticas congenitas. SUMMARY Introduction: sickle cell anemia (SCA) is the most common hereditary hematological disorder and due to the migrations, it has become a disease of global importance. It is fundamental to recognize the determinants that are associated to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), the most frequent complication. Objective: to identify the risk factors for the development of DCM in children older than five years with SCA. Methods: cross-sectional study carried out with clinical information of the patients with SCA that attended to the service of pediatrics of the Hospital Infantil Napoleon Franco Pareja from Cartagena, Colombia since June 2010 to December 2012. Bivariate analysis was done, followed by a model of logistic regression to recognize the risk factors associated with DCM, considering as statistically significant a p value < 0.05. Results: the sample of the study was 290 cases of children with SCA, 49 (16.9%) of them presented DCM. The bivariate analysis showed that there was not statistically significant association with the variables age, gender, height and weight. The multivariate logistic regression showed that of nine introduced variables, only the level of hemoglobin, the number of necessary blood transfusions and the fraction of ejection continued being statistically correlated with the dependent variable. Conclusions: in pediatric patients with SCA, the frequency of DCM was lower that informed in other studies and it was correlated inversely with the level of hemoglobin and the fraction of cardiac ejection, whereas it was directly correlated with the necessity of transfusions. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2013;4(2):275-280 KEY WORDS Sickle Cell Anemia; Cardiomyopathy, Child; Hematology; Genetic Diseases Inborn