Lack of osteoporosis knowledge despite high prevalence among postmenopausal women

Key takeaways:

• More than half of participants had osteoporosis with a trend of prevalence increasing with age.
• Women in Tianjin, China, had major misconceptions regarding osteoporosis dangers and precautions.

Despite the high prevalence of osteoporosis among postmenopausal women in urban Tianjin, China, most women had no knowledge of the dangers or the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, according to findings published in Menopause.

“The findings [of this study] were indicative of the low detection, diagnosis and treatment rates as well as the high prevalence of osteoporosis, and the resulting imbalance presented a challenge to osteoporosis therapy on both the medical and societal levels,” Jie Liu, MD, from the department of osteo-internal medicine at Tianjin Hospital in China, and colleagues wrote.

Liu and colleagues identified 240 postmenopausal women (mean age, 67 years) from 12 randomly chosen streets in six administrative districts of Tianjin. All women lived in the districts for more than 10 years and had been menopausal for at least 2 years. Participants received bone mineral density measurements and face-to-face questionnaire surveys.

Overall osteoporosis prevalence among participants was 52.08% with a trend of prevalence increasing with age (P = .03). The most significant personal characteristic that affected osteoporosis prevalence was BMI. The mean BMI among women without osteoporosis was 25.45 kg/m² compared with 23.85 kg/m² among women with osteoporosis (P < .001). Researchers also noted that previous fractures were associated with osteoporosis prevalence.

In addition, only 9.17% of women said they had heard of osteoporosis, whereas 75.42% said they believed that osteoporosis dangers are not comparable to heart disease, 72.92% said they believed that the dangers were not comparable to cerebral infarction and 56.67% said they never had an osteoporosis exam and paid little to no attention to their disease.

Researchers observed major osteoporosis misconceptions regarding hazards and common-sense precautions among this patient population.

“The findings of this study can be used to promote the use of community hospitals to establish a communication platform for patients with osteoporosis to increase treatment compliance and decrease fracture rates, as well as to raise public awareness of osteoporosis and the importance of integrated prevention and treatment,” the researchers wrote.