A Description of Osteoporosis Preventive Behaviors in Iranian Adolescent Girls

Background and aim: Osteoporosis is a major public health problem, particularly in women. Although osteoporosis is a senile disease, that will be started in youth and showed in adulthood. Two important modifiable factors that increases bone mineral density are calcium-and vitamin D intake and regular sport. Prevention is an important factor for starting or delaying osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to describe osteoporosis preventive behaviors in Iranian adolescent girls 12-15 years old in two Kerman middle schools.

Method: This is a descriptive- analytic research. The population consists of 147 female students of two middle schools in Kerman with cluster random sampling in November 2012. For collecting data used a researcher made questionnaire that should be mentioned that these variables are Likert scale 1-5 and the rating type. The students answered the same questionnaire including demographics, calcium and vit D intake, sun exposure and regular sport and barriers of using them. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, ANOVA analyses and SPSS software (package of Spss / pc + + ver16).

Results: According the results, about the dietary intake of calcium, 91.8% of the student (135 students) reported that they are consuming every day and there is relationship between relative income families and dairy consumption. 47.2% of girls reported do sport 20 min/day or 3.5 hrs/week and there is a relationship between age adolescent girls and regular sport. Also 47.6% of students stated that they use the sunlight to receive vitamin D and there is a significant relationship between age mothers and sun exposure in adolescent girls (P=0.036).

Discussion and Conclusion: This study shows the rate of osteoporosis preventive behaviors in Iranian adolescent girls is not enough. Among defined barriers, educational and personal barriers are more important for using osteoporosis preventive behaviors. So using educational program for adolescent girls and programs for increasing interests for using dairy diet and good equipment for sport can help increase in osteoporosis prevention behaviors in girls and finally in future mothers.