America
Gays, lesbians have better health than bisexuals: Study
Washington, July 1
Bisexual males and females
report poorer health than gays, lesbians and heterosexuals (LGBs),
according to a study by sociologists at Rice University.
The
study examined the self-rated health of 10,128 sexual minorities (gay,
lesbian and bisexual adults) and 405,145 heterosexual adults to see how
it differed across sexual orientation.
"We developed this study
both to examine the health of these different sexual minority groups and
to assess how risk factors for poor health contribute to their overall
health," said lead author Bridget Gorman, a professor of sociology at
Rice University.
The study found that 19.5 percent of bisexual
men and 18.5 percent of bisexual women rated their health as "poor or
fair", the highest proportion among the groups surveyed.
But only
11.9 percent of men identifying as gay and 10.6 percent of women
identifying as lesbian rated their health as "poor or fair," the lowest
proportion of those surveyed.
Bisexual men and women are
disproportionately disadvantaged on important social, economic and
behavioural factors strongly associated with health and well-being,
found the study.
Bisexual men and women were more likely to smoke
(23.8 percent and 21.9 percent, respectively), compared with 14.9
percent of gay men, 16.6 percent of lesbian women, 11.1 percent of
heterosexual men and 8.3 percent of heterosexual women.
"Our
study illustrates the importance of examining health status among
specific sexual minority groups, and not among 'sexual minorities' in
the aggregate, since the health profile of bisexual adults differs
substantially from that of gay and lesbian adults," Gorman said.
The study appeared in the journal Demography.