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Awareness and Knowledge of Osteoporosis in Elderly Individual

BACKGROUD: Elderly people may suffer from multiple health disorders due to the vulnerability for many physical and mental disturbances. Quality of life in elderly population can be affected by many environmental factors.
INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis is a global public health problem which is commonly referred to as a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone tissue with a consequent increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. OPAAT scale assesses osteoporosis knowledge by asking participants to rate the likelihood of getting osteoporosis based on the type of preventive measures taken. The aim of our study was to assess the knowledge and awareness about osteoporosis in elderly individuals.
METHODOLOGY: We conducted a survey of 100 men and women aged ≥ 60 years. The validated Osteoporosis Prevention and Awareness Tool (OPAAT) was used to assess their knowledge about osteoporosis prevention and awareness and perceived barriers to osteoporosis screening. The OPAAT consists of 30 items, categorized into three domains. The higher scores indicate higher knowledge level. The domains of the scale are “osteoporosis in general”, “consequence of untreated osteoporosis” and “osteoporosis preventive measure”. A score of one was given for a correct response and zero for an incorrect or do not know response. The total score was converted into percentage ranging from 0–100.
RESULT: Present study determines that awareness and knowledge of osteoporosis in elderly individuals in general domain is 30.90%, knowledge of consequence of untreated osteoporosis is 39%, and knowledge of osteoporosis preventive measure is 38%.
CONCLUSION: Knowledge and awareness of osteoporosis in elderly individuals is low which suggests the need for increased awareness campaigns in the elderly population.

Key words: Elderly, Osteoporosis, OPAAT, Knowledge, Awareness.