A cross-sectional survey of relationship between osteoporosis knowledge, perception and calcium intake among university students / Sh Syaza Nisrina Mumtaz Wan Jemudin and Siti Soraya Mohd Elias

Practicing healthy lifestyles and behaviours, such as physical exercise, proper dietary with calcium and vitamin D consumption have been demonstrated to be highly connected with a reduced risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is characterized by poor bone density which might increase risk of fractures. Osteoporosis not only affected the elderly but also young people. This study aimed to determine the relationship between osteoporosis knowledge, perception and calcium intake among university students. A total of 202 students from Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam participated in this cross-sectional survey. A self-administered online questionnaire was used as an instrument which consisted of the demographic, Osteoporosis Knowledge Tools (OKT), Osteoporosis Health Beliefs Scale (OHBS), and calcium intake questions. Results showed 91.6% of participants had a satisfactory level of osteoporosis knowledge, and 73.8% of participants had a moderate perception of osteoporosis. Only 12.9% of participants had enough daily calcium intake. The results also demonstrated that there was no relationship between the total knowledge score and perception of osteoporosis (r =.037, p =0.598), and between the total knowledge score and total calcium intake (r = .117, p = 0.099). While the perception of osteoporosis was correlated positively with calcium intake (r =.193, p =0.006). These present findings may explain that the participants may have a good knowledge and beliefs toward osteoporosis but did not translate into good dietary habits in terms of daily calcium intake as part of healthy lifestyle practices and osteoporosis preventive measures.