The aim of the study was to determine if calcium intake in patients with osteoporosis and osteopenia is influenced by the patient’s knowledge about the disease. The results presented are collected from an ongoing survey on dietary and other behaviour in women with lower bone density. Subjects were 197 women with an average age of 62.9 years. Specially designed quantified Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and, additional questionnaire for demographic data were used. When asked in what period of life they consumed the highest quantity of milk and dairy products, in the highest percent of subjects (27.8%) the answer was after the age of 50 years. In this case, although not significantly, the ages are negatively correlated with calcium intake. Years of education did not significantly correlate with calcium intake. Subjects that knew the recommended calcium intake in average had also a higher calcium intake (1369.6 mg) than those who did not (929.2 mg) and had significantly higher (p = 0.01) supplemental calcium intake than those who did not know the recommended calcium intake. No significant difference in calcium intake was observed when osteoporosis, reported in family anamnesis, is taken into account. The period of time from diagnosis did not correlate with calcium intake. Significant correlation (p < 0.01) was observed for calcium intake as well as the number of correct answers on questions about osteoporosis and food checklist where benefits of calcium sources are recognize.
This study showed that a patient’s knowledge about osteoporosis is important in achieving adequate calcium intake.Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi da li je unos kalcija u pacijenata s osteoporozom i osteopenijom povezan sa znanjem o bolesti. Prikazani su dosad prikupljeni rezultati istraživanja o prehrambenim i drugim navikama u žena niske mineralne gustoće kosti. Ispitanici su bile 197 žena prosječne dobi 62,9 godina. Upotrijebljen je posebno napravljen upitnik o učestalosti konzumiranja hrane i pića (FFQ), te dodatan upitnik za demografske podatke. Na pitanje u kojem periodu života su konzumirali najveće količine mlijeka i mliječnih proizvoda, najveći postotak ispitanika (27,8%) je odgovorio nakon 50. godine života, ali utvrđena je negativna, iako ne i statistički značajna korelacija između dobi i unosa kalcija. Godine obrazovanja nisu statistički značajno korelirale s unosom kalcija. Ispitanici koji su znali koja je preporuka za unos kalcija su imali veći prosječan unos (1369,6 mg vs. 929,2 mg) i imali su statistički značajno veći unos kalcija dodatcima prehrani nego oni koji nisu znali preporuku (p = 0,01). Nije utvrđena značajna razlika unosa kalcija s obzirom na to da li u obitelji ima ili je bilo oboljelih od osteoporoze. Period koji je protekao od dijagnoze osteoporoze nije koreliralo s unosom kalcija. Statistički značajna korelacija (p < 0,01) je utvrđena za unos kalcija i broj točnih odgovora na pitanja o osteoporozi i prepoznavanju dobrih izvora kalcija. Ovo istraživanje je pokazalo da je znanje o osteoporozi u oboljelih značajno u postizanju adekvatnog unosa
