Objective  To examine the status of awareness on osteoporosis knowledge and health education demands among middle-aged and elderly residents in Shandong province, and to provide evidences for the prevention of osteoporosis among community residents.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey among 3 134 residents aged ≥ 40 years selected with simple random sampling in 30 communities of 6 municipalities across Shandong province from December 2016 to March 2017.

  Results  The average score of osteoporosis knowledge was 10.63 ± 4.14 for all the participants, with a significantly higher score among the participants aged 40 – 49 years than among those of other age groups (P < 0.05). The osteoporosis knowledge score differed significantly by participants′ education (P < 0.05) and increased with education level among the participants. Of the participants, 54.3% (1 710) reported the willingness for osteoporosis prevention; 41.0% (1 285) reported the experience of receiving education on osteoporosis; and 59.3% (1 857) reported the awareness on effective ways for acquiring consultation for osteoporosis control and prevention.

  Conclusion  The middle-aged and elderly residents in Shandong province have a low awareness on osteoporosis knowledge and are lack of ways to acquire osteoporosis-related information; the residents more than 70 years old and with lower education are key people for osteoporosis intervention programs.