Are You Less Likely to be Truthful About Your Weight, Age, or Height?

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Article Date: 06 Jul 2004 - 12:00 PDT


A new survey reveals that women 40 years and older are less likely to be truthful about their weight Cincinnati, Ohio; Bridgewater, N.J. (June 21, 2004) - Women 40 years and older are less likely to be truthful about their weight than about their age or height when asked, according to a new survey conducted by Roper® on behalf of The Alliance for Better Bone Health. Approximately 27 percent of women surveyed said they have subtracted a few pounds from their weight when asked versus six percent of women who subtracted a few years from their age.

The survey also reveals that only four percent of women report not being truthful when asked about their height, even though 44 percent of women surveyed said that they may have experienced height loss in the recent past.

"Women tend to place a higher emphasis on weight than they do height," said Dr. Redonda Miller, Johns Hopkins University. "However, after menopause women need to be proactive about their bone health; to ask their physician to start measuring their height as part of their overall health exam."

Only 27 percent of women surveyed said that their physician checks their height at every physical exam; and nearly 50 percent of women surveyed said their physician rarely or never checks their height during physical exams.

Some women can lose up to five percent of their bone mass per year within the first five years after menopause, which typically occurs at age 51 or 52. Beyond that, as women age, they may experience a gradual loss in height that could be due to spinal fractures caused by osteoporosis.

What Women Can Do

The Alliance for Better Bone Health will launch the "Who Stole My Inch?" campaign at the end of June to reach out to postmenopausal women to help them better understand osteoporosis. In addition to the local events in New York City, Boston, Miami, Denver, and Kansas City, postmenopausal women are encouraged to visit www.whostolemyinch.com for further information on osteoporosis and how to help maintain healthy bones.

The Alliance is also sponsoring Make Osteoporosis Matter (MOM) events throughout the country in 2004. MOM is a national education program that offers women unique ways to experience the realities of this silent, but serious disease. The program features free osteoporosis screenings, expert speakers, displays, and a larger-than-life 9-foot educational spine. Women can visit
http://www.helppreventfractures.com to learn more about MOM events in their area.

Osteoporosis is a "silent disease" that affects millions of postmenopausal women, making their bones weak and more likely to fracture. In fact, each year the incidence of osteoporosis-related fractures in women is greater than the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer combined.

"Women need to take charge of their bone health by leading an active lifestyle, getting enough calcium and vitamin D, and talking to their physician to determine their risk for osteoporosis," said Dr. Miller.

About the Survey

The telephone survey was conducted by Roper on June 6-June 13. Interviews were completed with 628 U.S. women aged 40 and over to determine their attitudes and behaviors on sensitive health concerns including weight, age, and height. The margin of error for this study is + 4 percent.

About Roper

Roper Public Affairs and Media is part of NOP World, the ninth largest survey research company in the world. As a part of NOP World, Roper shares complete in-house facilities for statistics, sampling, interviewing, data processing and statistical analysis, and production. This provides total control over the research process from beginning to end.

About The Alliance for Better Bone Health

The Alliance for Better Bone Health was formed by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and Aventis Pharmaceuticals in May 1997 to promote bone health and disease awareness through numerous activities to support physicians and patients around the globe.

About Procter & Gamble

Two billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. Some of the nearly 300 P&G brands consumers know and use with confidence in over 160 countries around the world include: Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Bounty®, Pringles®, Folgers®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Olay®, and Clairol Nice 'n Easy®. Some of P&G Pharmaceuticals leading prescription products include Actonel® (risedronate sodium tablets), Asacol® (mesalamine), and Macrobid® (nitrofurantoin monohydrate macrocrystals). The P&G community consists of nearly 102,000 employees working in almost 80 countries worldwide. Please visit www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About Aventis

Aventis is dedicated to treating and preventing disease by discovering and developing innovative prescription drugs and human vaccines. In 2003, Aventis generated sales of EUR 16.79 billion (US $18.99), invested EUR 2.86 billion (US $3.75) in research and development and employed approximately 69,000 people in its core business. Aventis corporate headquarters are in Strasbourg, France. The company's prescription drugs business is conducted in the U.S. by Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information, please visit: http://www.aventis-us.com.

For P&G: All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to the risks and uncertainties noted in this release, there are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by some of the statements made. These include: (1) the ability to achieve business plans, including growing existing sales and volume profitably despite high levels of competitive activity, especially with respect to the product categories and geographical markets (including developing markets) in which the company has chosen to focus; (2) successfully executing, managing and integrating key acquisitions (including Wella) and completing planned divestitures (including the potential divestiture of the company's juice business), (3) the ability to manage and maintain key customer relationships; (4) the ability to maintain key manufacturing and supply sources (including sole supplier and plant manufacturing sources); (5) the ability to successfully manage regulatory, tax and legal matters (including product liability matters), and to resolve pending matters within current estimates; (6) the ability to successfully implement, achieve and sustain cost improvement plans in manufacturing and overhead areas, including successful completion of the company's outsourcing projects; (7) the ability to successfully manage currency (including currency issues in volatile countries), interest rate and certain commodity cost exposures; (8) the ability to manage the continued global political and/or economic uncertainty, especially in the company's significant geographical markets, as well as any political and/or economic uncertainty due to terrorist activities; and (9) the ability to successfully manage increases in the prices of raw materials used to make the company's products. If the company's assumptions and estimates are incorrect or do not come to fruition, or if the company does not achieve all of these key factors, then the company's actual results might differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those projected herein, please refer to our most recent 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports.

For Aventis: Statements in this news release containing projections or estimates of revenues, income, earnings per share, capital expenditures, capital structure, or other financial items; plans and objectives relating to future operations, products, or services; future economic performance; or assumptions underlying or relating to any such statements, are forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially depending on factors such as the timing and effects of regulatory actions, the results of clinical trials, the company's relative success developing and gaining market acceptance for new products, the outcome of significant litigation, and the effectiveness of patent protection. Additional information regarding risks and uncertainties is set forth in the current Annual Report on Form 20-F of Aventis on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in the current Annual Report -"Document de Référence"- on file with the "Autorité des marchés financiers" in France.

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