Impact of preventive osteoporosis education on patient behavior: immediate and 3-month follow-up

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational video on osteoporosis at increasing knowledge and preventive health behaviors. Design: A total of 195 women between 35 and 80 years of age without documented osteopenia or osteoporosis, who presented for a gynecological examination in an outpatient setting, were enrolled. Of this number, 98 women were randomly assigned to the intervention group that viewed the video before their office visit, and 97 women were assigned to a control group and saw their physician in a routine manner. After their visit, all participants answered a questionnaire that assessed their knowledge of osteoporosis and baseline health-related behaviors. Three months later, a follow-up questionnaire was mailed to participants, eliciting whether preventive behavior had commenced. Frequencies were compared using the Fisher exact test (2-tailed). Continuous variables were analyzed using the Student's t test. Results: The two groups had no statistically significant differences in demographics. The intervention group scored a mean of 92% compared with a mean of 80% in the control group on the initial osteoporosis assessment questionnaire (P < 0.001). The 3-month follow-up questionnaire demonstrated that significantly more women in the intervention group started taking calcium supplements (26.5% v 4.9%; P < 0.001), started taking vitamin D supplements (20.6% v 6.6%; P = 0.02), started a program of weight-bearing exercise (13.3% v 1.7%; P = 0.03), and started hormone therapy (8% v 1%; P = 0.04). Conclusion: The use of an educational video on osteoporosis seems to improve patient knowledge and may positively impact health-related behaviors.