Osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs in diabetic patients: a cross sectional study from Palestine

Abstract

BackgroundOsteoporosis is a potential metabolic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Therefore, patients with DM should have adequate osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs in order to get engaged in osteoporosis preventive behaviors. The objective of this study was to assess osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs among diabetic patients.MethodsThis was a cross sectional study carried out at Al-Makhfiah governmental primary healthcare unit in Nablus, Palestine from September 2016 to December 2016. The tools used to assess knowledge and beliefs were Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS) and the Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT) respectively.ResultsThree hundred diabetic patients were interviewed regarding their knowledge and belief about osteoporosis. The study sample included 192 (64.0%) females. Mean ± standard deviation (SD) of the participants was 58.5 ± 9.3 years. Regarding co-morbidities, 229 (76.3%) had at least one co-morbidity other than DM. The majority of participants incorrectly answered 19 out of 32 questions of OKT scale. The mean OKT score was 13.5 ± 4.2 indicating poor osteoporosis – related knowledge. Females had significantly higher nutrition (p = 0.037), exercise (p = 0.043), and OKT score (p = 0.021) than males. Regarding OHBS, female participants had significantly higher belief score of susceptibility (p < 0.01) and seriousness (p < 0.01) of osteoporosis compared to males.ConclusionsDiabetic patients had poor osteoporosis knowledge and moderate perception of susceptibility and seriousness of osteoporosis. These results require implementation of awareness programs among DM patients to increase their practices regarding preventive measures of osteoporosis such as calcium intake and exercise.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12891-018-1961-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Knowledge, Perceptions and Concerns of Diabetes-Associated Complications among Individuals Living with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…The care of individuals living with diabetes is standardized across Ireland, indicating generalisability across the country. Further, similar studies conducted in China [17] and Palestine [16] indicate the findings presented here remain valid internationally.…”

“…This study revealed a low level of awareness and understanding of bone-associated complications of diabetes when participants were asked to A) identify bone fractures or delayed bone healing from a list of potential complications or B) discuss how diabetes may impact bone health. Other published studies have also explored the knowledge of diabetes-related complications in people living with diabetes [20][21][22][23], some focusing on assessing a participant's understanding of diabetic osteopathy [16,17]. The trends identified in this study are comparable to those identified internationally, which is interesting given the multivariate nature of the understanding potentially cofounded by age, gender, geographical localization, availability of educational programmes, country-dependent management of diabetes care, and other societal factors.…”

“…Diabetes-induced osteopathy, represented as 'bone fractures' in the list, was identified in 37% (type 1 diabetes) and 23% (type 2 diabetes) of the surveys. As women have a higher risk of bone fracture [26] and have previously been shown to have an increased awareness of diabetes-induced osteopathy [16], a univariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between gender and the appearance of 'bone fracture' in the responses of participants with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The results showed that gender was not significantly associated with selecting 'bone fracture' as a complication of diabetes in participants with type 1 (odds ratio 0.7935; 95%CI 0.362, 2.744) (p-value 0.565) and type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 0.477; 95%CI 0.1852, 1.227) (p-value 0.125).…”

“…While the link between diabetes and bone disease is well-recognized in the scientific community, with abundant published literature reviewed above, there is still limited knowledge about diabetes-related osteopathy in individuals living with diabetes [16,17]. Indeed, there is little evidence available about its optimal management [5], and clinical guidelines do not include specific recommendations [18,19].…”

Osteoporosis Knowledge and Health Beliefs Among Female Community Leaders in Peru

“…19 These scales have been adapted to evaluate and guide the intervention of osteoporosis preventive behaviors in many middle-and low-income countries. [20][21][22][23] Few studies have addressed the level of osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs among nonhealth care professionals in Latin America 11,24 and existing data suggest that osteoporosis knowledge often fails to translate into preventive behaviors among the general population. 25,26 To better understand the level of knowledge, risk factors, and health beliefs regarding osteoporosis in Peru, we conducted an exploratory study among a group of female peer leaders in a Peruvian periurban community.…”