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Asian and Asian‐American College Students' Awareness of Osteoporosis
Author(s) -
Nguyen Diem N.,
O'Connell Mary Beth
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
pharmacotherapy: the journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.227
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1875-9114
pISSN - 0277-0008
DOI - 10.1592/phco.22.12.1047.33608
Subject(s) - vietnamese , osteoporosis , medicine , gerontology , asian americans , demography , family medicine , alternative medicine , ethnic group , pathology , philosophy , linguistics , sociology , anthropology
Study Objective. To quantify Asian and Asian‐American college students' knowledge of osteoporosis and preventive health behaviors. Design. Sixty‐four‐question survey. Setting. University of Minnesota. Subjects. One hundred sixty‐eight male and female Asian and Asian‐American students, mean age 21 ± 3.4 years. Main Results. About half of the students consumed 0–1 servings/day of dietary calcium, 42% consumed 2 cups/day or more of caffeinated beverages, 8% smoked cigarettes, and 61% exercised 2.5 hours/week or less. At least 1 serving/day of phytoestrogen was consumed by 80% of the students. Only 11% of students answered at least 75% of osteoporosis fact questions correctly. Women (p=0.011) and the United States‐born participants (p=0.006) were more apt to change their health behaviors to prevent or treat osteoporosis than men and Asia‐born participants. Thirty‐eight percent of Hmong participants attributed osteoporosis to fate, chance, or luck whereas Vietnamese participants were more likely to attribute osteoporosis to diet. Most participants (63%) did not know whether their culture objected to estrogen replacement therapy, and 42% said menopause was a natural occurrence for which pharmacologic treatment should not be administered. Conclusions. Many Asian and Asian‐American college students did not practice health behaviors to prevent osteoporosis, and most lacked sufficient knowledge about the condition.