Osteoporosis among perimenopausal African-American women: the relationship between sources of information and levels of knowledge about osteoporosis.

The aim of this study is to increase awareness of the occurrence of osteoporosis in perimenopausal African-American women. This quantitative study was designed to measure African-American women's knowledge of osteoporosis and to determine on what sources of information about osteoporosis African-American women rely Aside from demographic variables, other data were collected to determine which sources of information about osteoporosis African-American women use, whether they know that osteoporosis is a preventable disease, and whether there is a relationship between sources of information and the level of knowledge about osteoporosis among these women. Participants consisted of 45 perimenopausal African-American women from 42 to 52 years of age residing in Houston, Texas Data were utilized from an ongoing research project. Analysis of the data presented suggests that there is an association between specific sources of information and the level of knowledge about osteoporosis in this age group of African-American women.