ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF OSTEOPOROSIS AMONG FEMALES OF A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Annie James* and Nimmy N John

ABSTRACT

Background: The objectives of the study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of osteoporosis among females of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and methods: A prospective study was conducted in the Orthopaedics ward at Navodaya Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Raichur, Karnataka. Concurrent study was performed on awareness about osteoporosis among in-patients and outpatients during the course with prior consent from patients. Scores were collected from questionnaires and analysed using suitable statistical methods. Results: The results showed that question wise most of the women didn’t knew and heard about osteoporosis 50.90%, its causes 48.8% and its symptoms 47.27% more than half of the women were not aware of the risk of osteoporosis 56.36% and did not answered the question correctly whether osteoporosis is common among women or men 42.72%. Almost 81.81% of the participants did not had the desire to undergo required investigations and proper consultation regarding osteoporosis. They also showed low interest to read about osteoporosis 90%. Most of women were not drinking soft drinks 54.54%, eating food rich of calcium and vitamins 29.09%. Conclusion: Overall, females had poor level of knowledge, attitude and preventive practices towards osteoporosis. The results suggested the need to implement proper health education programs to raise the awareness on osteoporosis, motivate healthy practices about osteoporosis, and screen for the early signs and symptoms of osteoporosis.

Keywords: Osteoporosis, knowledge, attitude, practice and awareness.