OBJECTIVES: Brazilian physicians' knowledge on osteoporosis prevention and treatment strategies was investigated in this cross-sectional study. A specific structured questionnaire was designed to evaluate physicians' knowledge regarding osteoporosis prevention and treatment as well as osteoporosis information access. PATIENTS AND METHODS: the questionnaire was made available to around 11,000physicians affiliated to the Brazilian Society of Internal Medicine (BSIM). The questionnaire was initially presented at the BSIM home-page and subsequently sent by e-mail to all BSIM members. RESULTS: a total of 329 answered questionnaires returned to the researchers. Most of the physicians that answered the questionnaire (55.3%) had time since graduation lougher than 10 years and half of them (55%) reported having easy access to bone densitometry. The great majority of the physicians (99%) believe that preventing osteoporosis is important or very important. Accordingly, 73% of the physicians believe that osteoporosis can be prevented and around 63% of them discuss the issue with their patients regularly. On the other hand, most of the physicians that answered the questionnaire do not believe that their patients are able to change life habits or will adhere to the treatment in the long-term. Only 35% of the physicians believe that current osteoporosis treatment is effective. Around 82% of the physicians make use of bone densitometry to evaluate osteoporosis. Physicians with time since graduation higher than 10 years reported using bone densitometry more often than their colleagues with less time since graduation. CONCLUSION: our results demonstrate that educational programs aiming at the general practitioner are needed in order to provide better care in terms of prevention and treatment of skeletal fragility syndromes.
knowledge; general practitioner; osteoporosis; diagnosis; treatment
