Mental health disparities among LGBTQ+ Americans not "inevitable"

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-01-30 03:00

International

IMAGE: Public domain

New research looking at health data of more than a quarter of a million Americans shows that LGBTQ+ people in the US have a higher rate of many commonly diagnosed mental health conditions compared to their with cisgender and straight peers, and that these links are reflective of wider societal stigma and stress. For example, cisgender women who are a sexual minority, such as bisexual or lesbian, had higher rates of all 10 mental health conditions studied compared to straight cisgender women. Gender diverse people, regardless of their sex assigned at birth, and cisgender sexual minority men and had higher rates of almost all conditions studied compared to straight cisgender men, with schizophrenia being the one exception. A separate commentary says these differences are not inevitable, and could likely be eliminated through legal protections, social support, and additional training for teachers and healthcare professionals.

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research: Link to Paper 1 | Paper 2

Organisation/s: Stanford University, USA

Funder: his research was supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science & Engineering, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (Dr Lu) and in part by All of Us Research Program award OT2OD025276 (Dr Lunn). The All of Us Research Program is supported by the grants 1 OT2 OD026549, 1 OT2 OD026554, 1 OT2 OD026557, 1 OT2 OD026556, 1 OT2 OD026550, 1 OT2 OD 026552, 1 OT2 OD026553, 1 OT2 OD026548, 1 OT2 OD026551, 1 OT2 OD026555 to regional medical centers; IAA #: AOD 16037; grant HHSN 263201600085U to federally qualified health centers; grant 5 U2C OD023196 to the data and research center; grant 1 U24 OD023121 to Biobank; grant U24 OD023176 to the participant center; grant 1 U24 OD023163 to the participant technology systems center; grants 3 OT2 OD023205 and 3 OT2 OD023206 to communications and engagement; and grants 1 OT2 OD025277, 3 OT2 OD025315, 1 OT2 OD025337, and 1 OT2 OD025276 to community partners from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director.

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