Background: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by a decreasing in bone density which predisposes to fragility fractures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the awareness, sources of information, and the level of knowledge about osteoporosis in a sample of Iraqi women.
Method and patient: In a cross-sectional study, 250 Iraqi women attending the Rheumatology Unit at Baghdad Teaching Hospital from September 2020 to March 2021 were consecutively sampled. A questionnaire was administered through doctor interviews, consisting of three parts: the first gathered socio-demographic and osteoporosis risk factor data. The second part assessed women's awareness, information sources, and knowledge of osteoporosis. The third part focused on assessing the knowledge of osteoporosis among those aware of the disease.
Result: The study involved 250 women with a mean age of 48.9 ± 9.01 years; 51.6% were postmenopausal. 90% were aware of osteoporosis as a medical condition, while 10% had never heard of it. Education was positively correlated with awareness (P=< 0.001). Among the 225 aware of osteoporosis, the mean total knowledge score was 12.99 ± 3.77 (out of 51.96). 83.1% had fair knowledge (score between > 25% - ≤ 75%), 10.7% had good knowledge (score > 75%), and 6.2% had poor knowledge (score ≤ 25%). Educational level, previous Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan, previous low trauma fracture, and calcium/vitamin D supplement intake showed significant associations with knowledge score.
Conclusions: The study revealed that Iraqi women have fair knowledge about osteoporosis, misperception about specific parts of disease, and deficient information particularly to the risk factors.