Osteoporosis in Primary Care: An Analysis of Family Physicians' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Bahrain

Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease characterized by progressive loss of bone density. Osteoporotic fractures account for the significant morbidity and mortality of osteoporosis. Preventing and treating osteoporosis and its complications by proper screening and management will significantly improve prognosis and quality of life. Primary healthcare physicians play an important role in the primary prevention of chronic diseases. To that effect, we sought to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices on the subject of osteoporosis among family physicians in Bahrain in order to identify the level of awareness in primary care centers.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among family physicians working in primary healthcare centers across the Kingdom of Bahrain. Study participants were asked to complete an online revised osteoporosis knowledge test questionnaire. Data were collected and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York).

A total of 210 family physicians participated in this study. More than half of the participants had not received any structured education on osteoporosis or professional development sessions in the past five years (65.7%). Electronic resources were the most utilized type of resource for osteoporosis (73.8%, n=155). The overall mean score for knowledge was 57.2%. Participants strongly agreed that patient education is crucial for disease prevention (72.7%). The three questions that received the highest percentage of neutral responses were related to the ability to screen for osteoporosis in at-risk populations, the ability to correctly diagnose osteoporosis, and effectively manage a patient with osteoporosis in the clinic (34.3%, 36.7%, and 37.1%, respectively). When analyzing the data of practice questions, it was evident that the most used method for diagnosing osteoporosis among primary care physicians was the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan (79%), while the least utilized method was the calculation of an osteoporosis score (14.8%).

Our research demonstrated average levels of knowledge on osteoporosis among family physicians in Bahrain. There is also a deficiency in receiving formal updated training. The results highlight several specific deficiencies in both osteoporosis-related knowledge and clinical practice. Therefore, we suggest the need for a well-developed national screening and awareness program to increase screening practices and enhance knowledge about osteoporosis in primary healthcare.