BackgroundOsteoporosis (OP) is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass responsible of fracture. It is a major public health problem. knowledge assessment is an essential step in therapeutic education which could improve the management of osteoporosis.ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to assess the degree of knowledge of osteoporotic patients regarding their disease as part of therapeutic education in order to improve management and develop a shared decision with the patient.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted on osteoporotic patients at the rheumatology department of the university hospital center Mohamed VI Marrakech. Descriptive data, knowledge evaluation, patient expectations and therapeutic adherence were collected and analysed by SPSS 20. The comparison was made by the Chi-square test for qualitative variables.Results137 patients were included with an average age of 63.7 years, with a female predominance (94.9% female vs 5.1% male), 70.1% were illiterate, 58.4% had postmenopausal OP, 36.5% secondary OP and 5.1 % (n=7) male OP. 14.6% of the patients had diabetes, 9.5% had arterial hypertension, 5.8% had breast cancer under aromatase-inhibitors, 13.9% had rheumatoid arthritis and 9.5% had other chronic diseases, 16.1% were on long-term corticosteroids, 98.5% were on oral bisphosphonate and only 2 patients were on Intravenous zoledronate, 51.1% had osteoporosis for less than 2 years, 9.5% had a history of fracture with 2.9% major fractures.9.5% of patients answered that osteoporosis was linked to bone fragility, 29.2% thought it was age-related, 26.3% had a confusion between osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, 16.8% believed it was an inflammatory rheumatism. 81% supposed it was a female pathology, 92% presumed that their rheumatological manifestations were linked to osteoporosis, 58.4% didn’t know OP’s risk factors, 14.6% and 8.8% had recognized aging and menopause as OP’s risk factors respectively. 59.1% and 61.3% didn’t know any fall nor fracture related factors respectively.Concerning the clinical manifestations of osteoporosis, 48.2% thought OP manifested by arthralgia, 21.2% by myalgia, 2.2% by bone pain and only 5% assumed that it is a silent disease.95.6% assumed that physical activity is harmful and 32.1% had made environmental modifications.52.6% were convinced by their anti-osteoporotic treatment, 32.8% said they trusted the doctor’s decision and 14.6% were not convinced of the treatment but took it anyway.In bivariate analysis, there was a statistically significant correlation (p=0.008) between non-adherence to treatment and poor knowledge of OP’s risk factors.ConclusionThe knowledge evaluation being the first step of therapeutic education, it is necessary to encourage OP’s knowledge improvement and consequently increase therapeutic adherence.References[1]Bousselham S, Nassar K, Janani S. Enquête sur l’évaluation du degré de connaissance des patients ostéoporotiques vis-à-vis de leur maladie. Revue du Rhumatisme. 2021 Dec;88:A313.[2]Lespessailles E, Martaillé V, Beauvais C. Besoins et objectifs éducatifs des patients atteints d’ostéoporose. Revue du Rhumatisme Monographies. 2013 Jun;80(3):157-61.[3]Rousière M. L’ETP améliore-t-elle l’observance: quel bénéfice dans l’ostéoporose?. Revue du Rhumatisme Monographies. 2013 Jun;80(3):166-9.Disclosure of InterestsNone declared
