History of Fracture Prompts Women To Get Bone Density Scan

TOPLINE:

A substantial proportion of perimenopausal and menopausal women expressed willingness to undergo assessment for osteoporosis, especially among those of Chinese ethnicity and those with an older age, fracture history, and higher scores in perception of their osteoporosis risk.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted this cross-sectional study utilizing self-administered questionnaires to determine the factors that affect the willingness of perimenopausal and menopausal women to undergo bone mineral densitometry for assessment of osteoporosis.
• They recruited 342 women aged 50 years or older from primary care clinics in Singapore and assessed their health beliefs related to osteoporosis using a scale and willingness to undergo an osteoporosis assessment via a single question.
• This study asked participants about the benefits and barriers to calcium intake and exercise; higher scores indicated stronger health beliefs.

TAKEAWAY:

• Two thirds of participants (66.1%) expressed willingness to undergo an osteoporosis assessment.
• Chinese ethnicity (P = .016), older age (P = .019), and a history of fractures (P = .02) were associated with increased odds of willingness to undergo a screening for assessment of osteoporosis.
• Women with higher risk perception scores for osteoporosis and those with higher exercise benefit scores were more likely to express willingness to undergo assessment (P < .001 and P = .002, respectively).

IN PRACTICE:

“Knowledge of these factors will be useful when developing interventions to improve preventive behaviours for osteoporosis and increase uptake of osteoporosis assessment for those at risk,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jacqueline Giovanna De Roza of the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics in Singapore. It was published online on May 9, 2025, in BMC Primary Care.

LIMITATIONS:

Due to the cross-sectional design, the researchers could not establish that certain factors caused women to be willing to undergo an assessment. Potential recall bias may have existed due to self-administered questionnaires. The study did not assess how serious participants were about their reported beliefs about osteoporosis.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any funding. The authors declared having no conflicts of interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.