Awareness of Osteoporosis among the General Population of the Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia

Background: Osteoporosis is a bone disorder related to low bone density, which mainly affects women during menopause. Osteoporosis has a variety of symptoms, including bone ache and fracture, which may affect the patients' quality of life. Greater public awareness of the nature, risks, and protective factors of osteoporosis may help to reduce the sequelae related to this disorder. Objective: This study was aimed to assess awareness of the disease in Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on the general population in the Aseer region of southwest Saudi Arabia from June to August 2016. Consecutive participants were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Our study included 1,066 participants, comprising 550 men (51.6%) and 516 women (48.4%), of whom 39.5% were < 30 years old and 7.5% were > 50 years old. Overall, 80.4% of the participants had good knowledge of the consequences of osteoporosis (knowledge score > 60% of the total), 44.7% had good general knowledge regarding osteoporosis, and 33.8% had good knowledge of the risk and protective factors; generally, 36.9% of the study sample had good knowledge of osteoporosis. Conclusions and Recommendations: Our findings indicated that individuals had a strong awareness of some aspects of osteoporosis, especially the consequences, as one out of three participants were aware of the general aspects of this disorder.