Are Women Ready to Prevent Osteoporosis? Change Stages for Preventive Behaviors.

Objective: Evaluate the prevention behaviors for osteoporosis (OP) in women (physical activity and calcium intake) and their readiness to perform these behaviors.

Method: Women aged ≥30 years in four large cities of Mexico were interviewed. The geographical areas were selected randomly and stratified according to socioeconomic status and age. A questionnaire designed to assess OP-related prevention behaviors, as well as attitudes and stages of change of the transtheoretical model toward these behaviors, was used.

Results: Eight hundred and six women were interviewed: 4.2% reported diagnosis of osteopenia, 5% of OP, 2.3% had suffered a fracture, and 11.9% had a family history of OP. A large proportion of participants did not do physical activity (56.2%) and did not have the recommended intake of calcium (61.3%). More than 80% of these participants were in lower stages of change (precontemplation and contemplation) for performing physical activity and 86.4% for calcium intake, which means a lack of readiness to change their behaviors. The absence of readiness to change preventive behaviors was related to negative attitudes toward both behaviors (OR = 1.81, 95% CI [1.04, 3.14] physical activity; OR = 3.09, 95% CI [1.81, 5.29] calcium intake). Both of these behaviors were associated with known risk factors for OP.

Conclusion: Very high percentage of women are not ready to perform the behaviors necessary to maintain bone health. This phenomenon was not as a result of clinical risk factors for OP but because of the negative attitudes and beliefs of women related to physical activity and calcium intake.