Abstract

Background: Osteoporosis is a disease in which the density and quality of bone are reduced. As the bones become more weak and fragile, the risk of fracture is greatly increased. The loss of bone occurs "silently" and progressively. Often there are no symptoms until the first fracture occurs.

Aims & Objective: To study the knowledge of women toward osteoporosis in primary care.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted throughout the period from 1st March 2013 to 30th April 2013 in the family medicine department at the King Abdulaziz military hospital in Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was designed and modified after review previous studies and validated by two consultant family medicine. It included socio-demographic data, including age, marital status and education level. The rest of questions aimed to determine the awareness, knowledge of the risk factors of osteoporosis. Data was entered to a computer using Epi info version 6 program and SPSS version 13 for statistical analysis.

Results: 244 (65%) of participants were 50 years old or above, while 180 (48%) were married and 66.1 % were post-menopausal. Almost half of women in this study (52.3%) have not heard about Osteoporosis. There was inversely correlation between age and KOS, as age increase the KOS decrease with significant p-value.

Conclusion: A significant number of the Saudi's women are unaware of the osteoporosis risk factors and simple preventable measures especially those women with high risk for osteoporosis e.g. elderly.

Key words: Knowledge; Women; Osteoporosis; Saudi Arabia