Public Health and Nutrition

Biography

Biography: Nida Tokacer

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a debilitating disease and it needs to be aware of severity or precautions. It is likely to have a profound effect on physical activity level and calcium intake. The aim of this study is to examine knowledge of osteoporosis (OP), health behaviours, and health beliefs among a sample of women working in different branch banks in Ankara, Turkey. Women completed a self-administered questionnaire providing age, weight, height and demographic profile data. The Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) and International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) One-Minute OP Risk Test administered to a 200 randomly selected, sedentary occupied women aged 21-54 years. OKAT contains 20 item instrument with true, false and don’t know responses. The analysis was fulfilled by scoring 1 for a correct response and 0 for an incorrect or don’t know response. The total score range was from 0 to 20. Other risk test includes 19 questions and analysis was performed by scoring 1 for a correct response and 0 for an incorrect response. The more women’s age and body mass index, the more risk of OP (p<0.01). The status of education is related to OP risk. Women graduating from high school had more risk compared to upper level educated women (p<0.05). The majority of women seemed to be largely unaware of the potential threat of OP, especially targeting younger women, to cease progression of OP or carry a step further for any preventative interventions.