title: A cross-sectional study to estimate associations between education level and osteoporosis in a Chinese postmenopausal women sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our research aims to investigate the associations between education level and osteoporosis (OP) in Chinese postmenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A large-scale, community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the associations between education level and OP. A self-reported questionnaire was used to access the demographical information and medical history of the participants. A total of 1905 postmenopausal women were available for data analysis in this study. Multiple regression models controlling for confounding factors to include education level were performed to investigate the relationship with OP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of OP was 28.29% in our study sample. Multivariate linear regression analyses adjusted for relevant potential confounding factors detected significant associations between education level and T-score (β = 0.025, P-value = 0.095, 95% CI: -0.004-0.055 for model 1; and β = 0.092, P-value = 0.032, 95% CI: 0.008-0.175 for model 2). Multivariate logistic regression analyses detected significant associations between education level and OP in model 1 (P-value = 0.070 for model 1, Table 5), while no significant associations was reported in model 2 (P value = 0.131). In participants with high education levels, the OR for OP was 0.914 (95% CI: 0.830-1.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicated that education level was independently and significantly associated with OP. The prevalence of OP was more frequent in Chinese postmenopausal women with low educational status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Shanghai Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Hong
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Piao
authors.affiliation: Department of Science and Tech, The People's Hospital of Mengzi Honghe, Yunnan, China.
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Shanghai Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Keqin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Shanghai Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: Chinese postmenopausal women; Educational level; osteoporosis