Female Employee’s Knowledge toward Osteoporosis in University of Sulaimani / Old Campus

Background: Osteoporosis is one of the top five illnesses that lead to lengthy hospital stays and disability, but it is still underdiagnosed globally, particularly in developing nations. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to ascertain the awareness of this condition among female employees in Sulaimani city. Methods: A cross-sectional study of female employees at the University of Sulaimani old campus was done from October to December 2022. The convenience sample size was used to enroll 100 female workers in total. The Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) was used to present a self-administered structured questionnaire to gather information about sociodemographic factors and female awareness of osteoporosis. Results: The age range of the study's participating employees was between 35 and 45 years old, with a mean age and a standard deviation of 35.1 and 12.9 years, respectively. The majority of them (50 percent, 64 percent, and 58 percent, respectively) were unmarried, urban dwellers, barely surviving, and highly educated. According to the participant's knowledge score, 56% had fair awareness about osteoporosis, 38% had strong knowledge, and only 6% had poor knowledge. Age and economic level had a statistically significant relationship with knowledge of osteoporosis (p-value = 0.001), as did knowledge score. Conclusions: The majority of participants scored fairly well on knowledge about osteoporosis. Nonetheless, there was a sizable knowledge gap with relation to the same risk factors. In the current study, the good knowledge score was much lower than the global average. The quality and trustworthiness of information about osteoporosis must therefore be improved through educational efforts