2015, Volume 8, Issue Spec Iss 4, pp 203 – 208

Osteoporosis-related knowledge among students of a medical sciences university in Iran: calcium intake and physical activity

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Authors and Affiliations

Correspondence to: Nasirzadeh M, Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran, Kerman Province, Rafsanjan, Iran, E-mail: mnasirzadeh13@yahoo.com

Abstract

Introduction: Osteoporosis has increased the burden of diseases worldwide and in all populations. It is far more common among women than among men. The current research tried to investigate the health faculty students’ awareness of osteoporosis (calcium intake and physical activity).

Materials & methods: A descriptive-analytical research was conducted on 239 students in the health faculty, who voluntarily participated in this study and chose to use the census instancing approach. The information gathered employed a standardized questionnaire including 9 demographic questions, and 24 questions about osteoporosis were fed into SPSS 18 statistical software, t-test, Pearson’s correlation, and one-way ANOVA.

Findings: 228 students (95.4%) enrolled at the undergraduate level. They age averaged 22.17 ± 2.66. Their mean score of knowledge regarding osteoporosis was 12.96 ± 4.01 (4.67 ± 1.66 for calcium intake and 8.29 ± 2.89 for physical activity section). Only 46 (19.2%) students had a high-level knowledge of osteoporosis. There was a clear link (P < 0.05) among the students’ awareness regarding the marital status, being older, being a BA student of public health, and being a MA. There was no clear link among the awareness and the students’ job, parents’ job, education, and family income (P > 0.05).

Discussion & conclusion: Given the students’ field of study, that being health sciences, their awareness about osteoporosis was poor and unacceptable. Therefore, it was essential to promote the students’ knowledge and determine the causes of insufficient physical activity and calcium intake among students.

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About this article

PMC ID: 5319258
PubMed ID: 28316732
DOI: 

Article Publishing Date (print): 2015
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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