Background
: Osteoporosis is chronic disease, therefore education about osteoporosis is very important in patients and high risk groups. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of audiovisual instruction about osteoporosis in perimenopausal women. Methods : We educated perimepopausal women who lived in Ulsan about lifestyle behavior related to osteoporosis from July.1999 to Dec.1999 and assessed improvements of lifestyle behaviors related to osteoporosis and evaluated factors that influence hormone replacement therapy uptake. Results : After the audiovisual instruction, hormone replacement therapy uptake, milk intake and exercise were significantly increased in only experimental group. But, smoking and coffee intake were not significantly decreased in both control group and experimental group. After the audiovisual instruction, the factor that significantly influenced hormone replacement therapy uptake was type of education and osteoporosis of participants and also it were significant after adjustment of multiple comparison. Menopause of participants influenced hormone replacement therapy but it was not significant after adjustment. Conclusion : Our study suggests that community intervention trial against osteoporosis improves lifestyle behaviors in perimenopausal women. Longer term studies are needed to determine the relationship between improvements in lifestyle behaviors and osteoporosis.