Journal Article

Health Disparities Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults: Results From a Population-Based Study

Muraco, Anna, Hoy-Ellis, Charles P., Kim, Hyun-Jun, Barkan, Susan E., Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I.

2013

Overview

Objectives. We investigated health disparities among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults aged 50 years and older. Methods. We analyzed data from the 2003–2010 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 96 992) on health outcomes, chronic conditions, access to care, behaviors, and screening by gender and sexual orientation with adjusted logistic regressions. Results. LGB older adults had higher risk of disability, poor mental health, smoking, and excessive drinking than did heterosexuals. Lesbians and bisexual women had higher risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity, and gay and bisexual men had higher risk of poor physical health and living alone than did heterosexuals. Lesbians reported a higher rate of excessive drinking than did bisexual women; bisexual men reported a higher rate of diabetes and a lower rate of being tested for HIV than did gay men. Conclusions. Tailored interventions are needed to address the health disparities and unique health needs of LGB older adults. Research across the life course is needed to better understand health disparities by sexual orientation and age, and to assess subgroup differences within these communities.

• Publisher: American Public Health Association
• Subject: Adults / Age / Aging / Behavior / Biological and medical sciences / Bisexuality / Cardiovascular disease / Cardiovascular diseases / Chronic Disease / Chronic illnesses / Clinical outcomes / Confidence Intervals / Diabetes / Disease control / Drinking behavior / Ethnicity / Female / Gays & lesbians / Gender differences / General aspects / Health Behavior / Health care / Health care access / Health disparities / Health needs / Health risks / Health services / Health Services Accessibility / Health status / Health Status Disparities / Health surveillance / Health Surveys / Heterosexuality / HIV / Homosexuality / Homosexuality, Female / Homosexuality, Male / Households / Human immunodeficiency virus / Humans / Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Persons / Lesbianism / LGBTQ people / Life course / Living alone / Logistic Models / Male / Mass Screening / Medical research / Medical sciences / Medical screening / Men / Mental health / Middle Aged / Miscellaneous / Obesity / Odds Ratio / Older people / Polls & surveys / Population / Population studies / Population-based studies / Public health / Public health. Hygiene / Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine / Research and Practice / Risk / Risk behavior / Risk factors / Risk taking / Sexual behavior / Sexual orientation / Sexuality / Sexually transmitted diseases / Smoking / STD / Studies / Surveillance / Surveillance systems / Washington / Womens health