Urban Health Today Editors

Urban Health Today

Patients with a history of cancer who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual had worse survivorship than their heterosexual peers, facing challenges that are not as prevalent in the heterosexual community.A <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34406650/">study</a> looking at more than 17.5 million U.S. cancer survivors analyzed survivorship characteristics by sexual orientation and sex. Of the included patients from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1.52% identified as gay/lesbian and 1.41% as bisexual.Bisexual survivors reported twice the rates for current smoking (32.3% vs. 13.6%) and binge drinking (17.1% vs. 9.1%) as heterosexual patients.Lack of insurance was four times greater among bisexual compared with heterosexual patients (16.6 % vs. 4.1%; P&lt;.0001). This finding corroborates &ldquo;previous trends described by a study using the National Health Interview Survey between 2013 and 2015,&rdquo; the researchers noted.Researchers adjusted for socioeconomic, health-related behavioral risk, and health care access factors and found that bisexual females had poorer general health (odds ratio [OR]=1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-1.36) and poorer mental health (OR=2.43; 95% CI, 2.39-2.46). In contrast, bisexual males and gay males presented with better general health than their heterosexual counterparts.&ldquo;It would be interesting to further investigate the reason that the different sexes displayed such results in two different directions,&rdquo; the researchers wrote.Bisexual males were more than five times (OR=5.14) more likely to be diagnosed with depressive disorders compared to heterosexual counterparts, and this risk was more than three times higher for bisexual females (OR=3.23).&ldquo;In an effort to improve cancer survivorship, future research should explore ways to close the gap in educational attainments and to promote healthy lifestyles and tailor tobacco cessation and alcohol control programs to better serve lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, and particularly bisexual populations, which experience bi-negativity from both gay/lesbian and heterosexual communities,&rdquo; the researchers concluded.

Lou Portero

Climate Change Is Loading Rice With Arsenic

Public Health

FDA Authorizes First Prescription Digital Therapeutic for Migraine Prevention

Women's Neurology

How Vagus Nerve Signals Affect Eating Habits Across Socioeconomic Lines

Obesity

Latest News

Study Finds Sexual Orientation Is Associated With Cancer Survivorship Outcomes

Cancer

Patients with a history of cancer who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual had worse survivorship than their ...

Sexual Orientation Associated With Cancer Survivorship Outcomes

About Us

Editorial Policy

Contributors & Partners

Contact Us

eNewsletters

Work With Us

Advertising

Career Center

GU Oncology Now

Blood Cancers Today

Cancer Nursing Today

DocWire News

MashupMD

Food Allergy Roundtable Discussions

Allergy

Blood Cancers

— Multiple Myeloma

Breast Cancer

Colorectal Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer

Prostate Cancer

Diabetes

Gastroenterology

Heart Failure

Heart Disease Prevention

Heart Health

— Alzheimer’s Disease

Neurology

Autoimmune Disease

Infectious Diseases

Pediatrics

Sickle Cell Disease

Digital Health

Dermatology

Pulmonology

Video Insights

Workforce News

More

Gynecologic Cancer

Heart Disease in Women

Menopause

Reproductive Health

Women’s Neurology

Well Woman Today

Roundtables

Podcasts

Conferences

Viewpoints

Subscribe