Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of family physicians about vitamin D deficiency and osteomalaci̇a

Introduction and Aim: Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health and also acts as a hormone on many non-skeletal targets in the body. Osteomalacia is a condition that progresses with widespread muscle and bone pain and develops due to vitamin D deficiency in most of the patients. In these patients, vitamin D replacement has an important role in the regression of their complaints. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and treatment approaches of family physicians in Turkey about vitamin D deficiency and osteomalacia. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. In our study, specialist family physicians and general practitioners working as family physicians formed the target population. In order to collect data in the study, a survey form prepared through Google Forms was used by scanning the literature. The questionnaire included 37 questions in total. Results: 95,5% of the physicians participating in the study stated that they could not check 25(OH)D levels in family health centers. A statistically significant difference was detected between family medicine specialists (83,1%) and general practitioner family physicians (60,5%) who recommended vitamin D supplements to healthy adults (p = 0.001). When the participants' answers to the proposition 'Osteomalacia rather than osteoporosis should come to mind in a patient with widespread bone and joint pain, bone tenderness, muscle weakness and walking difficulty' were examined, a statistically significant difference was detected between family medicine specialists (79,5%) and general practitioner family physicians (63,9%) (p = 0.044). Conclusion: According to the results we obtained; we can think that there are differences in the approaches to vitamin D deficiency and osteomalacia between specialist physicians and general practitioners working as family physicians in our country and standard approach has not yet been established. Because of the knowledge about vitamin D is developing rapidly, continuing post-graduate education sessions should be an indispensable part of continuing medical education in order to refresh and update the knowledge of doctors. Keywords: Vitamin D, Osteomalacia, Family Physician