Quality of life and affecting factors in osteoporotic patients

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a bone disease which may cause fractures as a result of reduced bone mineral density and disrupted bone micro architecture also decreasing the quality of life. Methods: Patients who attended to Adnan Menderes University Medical Faculty Family Medicine Department outpatient center between 1st of February and 30th of May 2007 consequently and had bone mineral densitometry measurement by DXA (Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry) were included in this study. A questionnaire, which was prepared for assessment of sociodemographic features and risk factors for osteoporosis, and quality of life scales were administered to the 99 osteoporotic cases and control group, consisted of 87 osteopoenic patients and normal. Face to face interview method was used. Student?s t test, ANOVA, Linear regression analysis and Pearson?s correlation analysis were used in statistical assessments. P < 0.05 value was accepted as significant. Results: It has been concluded that osteoporosis decreases the quality of life as measured by both SF-36 and QUALEFFO-41 scales. The factors related to quality of life are age, history of fracture, history of being bed bound longer than two months and having a chronic disease. There was a statistically significant positive association between quality of life, and active exercise status in all domains of the survey. Conclusion: As a result, screening studies to identify osteoporotic cases under high risk for decreased quality of life, educating individuals about the risk factors of osteoporosis and how to prevent them and encouraging for life style modifications is essential. Key Words: Quality of life, osteoporosis, risk factors, scale