Health behaviors and
challenges often vary
depending on a person's
sexual orientation , a new
U.S. report finds.
But, those changes do not seem to follow a set
pattern -- some are healthy, some aren't. For
example, the federal researchers found that gays
and lesbians were more likely to smoke and binge
drink compared to heterosexuals. And bisexuals
and lesbians were less likely than straight people
to have a regular place to get medical care.
Some of the differences were positive, though.
Overall, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were more
likely than their straight peers to participate in
regular exercise. And gay men were less obese
than heterosexual men, the findings showed. They
were also more likely to get flu vaccines than
straight men, according to the federal report.
"We saw some differences by sexual orientation,
but there is no clear overall pattern," said report
lead author Brian Ward, a health statistician with
the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
"You can't say gay, lesbians and bisexuals have
poorer health overall," he added.
The survey findings are based on responses from
nearly 35,000 adults who were interviewed in-
person at their homes in 2013 as part of the
National Health Interview Survey. This was the
first time the survey included questions about
sexual orientation.
Certain health problems were more common
among gays and lesbians. More than one-third of
lesbians were obese compared to 28 percent of
straight women, and more than 40 percent of
bisexual women were obese. Lesbian and bisexual
women were also more likely to not have received
medical care in the last year because of cost, the
investigators found.
In terms of tobacco use, gay men, lesbians and
bisexuals of both genders were more likely to
smoke cigarettes than people who said they were
heterosexual. They were also more likely to report
recently consuming five or more alcoholic
beverages in one day.
Other studies have shown that gay people are
more likely to smoke and drink more alcohol than
straight people, said Susan Cochran, a professor
of epidemiology at the University of California, Los
Angeles, who studies sexual orientation and
health. "We know that these differences exist,"
she said, but the new survey is important because
it allows officials to track these kinds of health
differences over time.
"Now we can measure whether anything has been
done about these things over time," Cochran
added.
Not all of the findings offer signs of potential
trouble for homosexuals. Gay men, lesbian
women and bisexuals of both sexes seem to be
getting more exercise than their straight
counterparts, with gay men appearing to be the
fittest. Both gay men and lesbians were more
likely to have a private health insurance plan than
their straight peers. Gay men were also more
likely than straight men to have insurance, the
survey found.
The survey results also included details about the
percentages of participants who identified
themselves as heterosexual, homosexual or
bisexual.
All participants answered questions in person at
their homes, potentially throwing off the results if
any participants were reluctant to honestly
discuss their sexuality with a stranger. Still, report
lead author Ward said the results were in line with
those from other national health surveys.
Of all those who answered the survey questions,
96.6 percent said they were heterosexual, 1.6
percent said they were gay or lesbian, and 0.7
percent said they were bisexual.
Answers varied by age, with seniors more likely
to identify themselves as straight and people
under 45 among those most likely to identify as
bisexual.
Specifically, adults under age 65 were much more
likely (about 2 percent) to say that they were gay
or lesbian than older people (less than 1 percent).
Women were more likely to identify as bisexual
(almost 1 percent) than men (0.4 percent), the
researchers noted.
Bisexuality was more common among those
under 45 (1.1 percent) than 45 and older (0.4
percent of those 45 to 64, and 0.2 percent of
those 65 and older). Another 1.1 percent of the
participants provided other answers --
"something else" or "I don't know the answer" --
or declined to answer the question.
UCLA's Cochran said the numbers generally
reflect the findings of similar surveys. But she
cautioned that sexual orientation is a complex
mix of desire and behavior that's complicated by
a variety of labels. Some people, for example,
have had sexual experiences with their own
gender but say they're straight.
The report was released July 15 by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
National Center for Health Statistics.