OBJECTIVE: to investigate the quality of life among physically active post-menopausal women with and without a diagnosis of osteoporosis. METHODS: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out through interview. All the participating women volunteered to take part of this study through previous contact by telephone. The characteristics and objectives of the inter view were explained in addition to confirmation of their postmenopausal status. There were two groups of 21 volunteers each: group 1 were non-osteoporotic women (64.38 ± 4.24 years-old) and group 2 were osteoporotic women (67.81 ± 4.19 years-old). Each volunteer was asked to fulfill a preliminary form in order to register personal information, clinical history, co-morbidities and health care. Following, the SF-36 questionnaire was applied. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to assess differences between the two groups. RESULTS: there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between both groups only with regard to the "Role Physical" and "General Health " components of the SF-36 form showing a better performance to group 1. CONCLUSION: post-menopausal women with a diagnosis of osteoporosis that did not sustain a fracture may present a similar quality of life, as compared to non-osteoporotic post-menopausal women.
quality of life; post-menopausal women; SF-36; osteoporose
