Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by decreased bone mineral density and destruction of the microarchitecture of bone structure. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between bone mineral density, vitamin D level and sleep quality in female patients with osteoporosis.

Material and Method: This descriptive correlational study included a total of 318 women diagnosed with osteoporosis. The data were collected using a patient identification form, including items for plasma vitamin D level and bone mineral density score obtained by DXA method, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The data were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric tests according to whether they had normal distribution.

Results: The mean age of the women was 56.49±5.68 years and their femoral neck T mean score, an indicator of bone mineral density, was -2.94±0.31. Only 6.3% of the women had adequate vitamin D levels. In addition, according to their PSQI scores, 85.8% of the women had poor sleep quality. In the study, no significant difference was found between the women’s bone mineral densities and vitamin D levels according to sleep quality (P>0.05). However, there was a weak negative correlation between the duration of osteoporosis and sleep quality (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The majority of the women diagnosed with osteoporosis had poor sleep quality. There was no association between vitamin D level, bone mineral density and sleep quality, but the duration of osteoporosis was negatively associated with sleep quality. Accordingly, it may be recommended to provide education and counseling to postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteoporosis on issues such as sunbathing, vitamin D and calcium preparation intake, weight control and non-pharmacological treatment approaches by making necessary individual-specific plans to improve sleep quality.

Keywords: Osteoporosis; bone mineral density, vitamin D; sleep quality.