Concern and Risk Perception: Effects on Osteoprotective Behaviour

Table 5

Odds ratio (ORs) of anti-osteoporosis medication (AOM) use in the next 12 months for covariates about concern and risk perception of osteoporosis.

	No. (%)	Unadjusted OR; (95% CI)		Adjusted OR* (95% CI)
Concern about osteoporosis^#; (using a 3-point Likert scale)			0.08		0.66
Not at all concerned	33 (3.6)	1.00		1.00
Somewhat concerned	64 (3.9)	1.08 (0.71–1.66)		0.88 (0.54–1.44)
Very concerned	20 (6.5)	1.84 (1.04–3.27)		1.28 (0.65–2.54)
Perception of osteoporosis risk^#; (using a 5-point Likert scale)			0.001		0.06
Much lower	13 (2.4)	1.00		1.00
A little lower	22 (3.3)	1.39 (0.69–2.78)		1.33 (0.64–2.76)
About the same	55 (4.5)	1.90 (1.03–3.52)		1.66 (0.85–3.23)
A little higher	16 (5.1)	2.17 (1.03–4.58)		1.87 (0.81–4.35)
Much higher	9 (10.5)	4.74 (1.96–11.5)		2.48 (0.82–7.51)
Perception of fracture risk^#; (using a 5-point Likert scale)			0.24		0.002
Much lower	14 (2.5)	1.00		1.00
A little lower	20 (2.8)	1.11 (0.56–2.22)		0.95 (0.46–1.96)
About the same	60 (4.6)	1.88 (1.04–3.39)		1.77 (0.93–3.37)
A little higher	15 (7.3)	3.05 (1.45–6.43)		1.99 (0.80–4.92)
Much higher	8 (16.0)	7.43 (2.95–18.7)		5.21 (1.77–15.3)

Note: Each assessment was treated as an observation, and lack of independence between assessments for the same women (clustering) was taken into account using generalized estimating equations.
^#Concern about osteoporosis (In thinking about your health, how concerned are you about osteoporosis?); perception of osteoporosis risk (How would you rate your own risk of “getting osteoporosis” compared to other women your age?); and perception of fracture risk (How would you rate your own risk of fracturing or breaking a bone compared to other women your age?).
*Adjusted for age, body mass index, private health insurance status, level of education, smoking, drinking, fracture since age 45 years, a maternal history of osteoporosis, history of fractured hip among parents, height loss since age 25 years (≥3 cms), weight loss (≥5 kgs) in the last year, self-reported health status, SF-36 physical score, current use of calcium and/or vitamin D, seeking medical advice on osteoporosis in the previous year and any prior bone mineral density testing.
^∧Test for trend by treating groups as an ordered (continuous) variable.