Exercise has a positive impact on bone mineral density in seropositive human immunodeficiency virus: do health professionals know?

Introduction: Despite the concomitant negative effects of human immunodeficiency virus on bone mineral density in HIV-infected persons, studies on knowledge of effect of exercise on this health parameter in HIV population among health professionals seem unavailable. This study therefore examined knowledge on effect of exercise on BMD in HIV-infected persons among health professionals. Material and methods: This cross-sectional survey employed researcher designed, experts - validated questionnaire to enroll 434 respondents. The reliability coefficient “r” of the questionnaire was 0.75 with 92% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarize and analyze the data respectively. The alpha value was set at 0.05. Results: Age range and mean age in years of the respondents were 21–59 and 35.88 ± 9.09 respectively; age group of 30–39 years predominated (45.3%). Males were in preponderance (52.4%), and most (74.4%) were married; while majority (54.7%) were nurses. Substantial proportion (54.2%) had less than good knowledge on the subject examined in this study. Significant difference (p < 0.05; p = 0.015) in knowledge on effect of exercise on BMD in HIV population existed among the professions. Post hoc showed that knowledge of the physicians (p = 0.001) and laboratory scientists (p = 0.029) were significantly higher than that of the nurses. Physiotherapists’ knowledge on this subject compared to that of other health professionals was statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Knowledge on effect of exercise on BMD in HIV infected persons among health professionals was surprisingly below expectation, and therefore should be seen as a cause for concerned exercise scientists and public health experts.