Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Osteoporosis among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: It is generally believed that osteoporosis is the most common metabolic disease affecting bone worldwide and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an exception. Awareness among physicians is essential for early detection and timely treatment and hence fractures prevention. Aim: We aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practices for osteoporosis among Primary Health Care Physicians in Saudi Arabia and to identify its determining factors. Methods: the survey was a cross-sectional survey of physicians of all specialties who are currently working in one of the primary care units in the Kingdom. We used self-administered questionnaire to identify the levels of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice. Means, standard deviations and percentages along with the 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Responses were obtained from 364 physicians (30% female, 70% male). The majority was resident physicians (81%) and thought that osteoporosis was an important clinical problem. About 84% were unaware of the presence of any clinical guidelines for osteoporosis. A high proportion of respondents believed in the preventive role of physical activity and cessation of smoking. There were good levels of knowledge regarding Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan as a diagnostic tool and bisphosphonate drug therapy. Conclusions: Gaps in knowledge of physicians about bone health were identified. There is a need to extend medical knowledge regarding the contemporary management of osteoporosis and its risk factors. The results of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice study could be used to improve physicians’ performance; hence it should be implemented on regular basis as part of the osteoporosis prevention strategy.