2024-05-13 11:09:15
Female homosexuals (lesbians) and bisexuals were found to die sooner than heterosexuals.
The results of a study by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), are considered the first extensive study of how sexual orientation affects mortality.
The researchers analyzed data from the ‘Nurses’ Health Study II’ targeting American nurses. The nurses who participated in this study, which began in 1989 as part of a series of surveys on risk factors for major chronic diseases in women, included about 100,000 nurses born between 1945 and 1964.
They revealed their sexual orientation in a 1995 survey. 89,821 (98.9%) classified themselves as heterosexual, 694 (0.8%) as lesbian, and 318 (0.4%) as bisexual. The researchers followed them until April 2022.
The analysis found that female nurses who identified as lesbian or bisexual had a 26% higher rate of premature death compared to female nurses who identified as heterosexual. Lesbian women died 20% faster and bisexual women died 37% faster.
“One of the strengths of this study is that we were able to separate out the bisexual and lesbian participants, which other studies couldn’t do because we had enough people and followed them long enough to actually look at these risks separately,” the paper said. Sarah McKetta, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, said in an interview with NBC News on the 11th (local time).
He said he expected some differences given existing research on negative health outcomes for sexual minority women, but did not expect to see such a striking difference in premature mortality.
The reason for the higher early mortality rate was exposure to various forms of discrimination. As a result, they are more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and they also experience more mental stress, which leads to poor health.
Researchers found that female participants who were lesbian or bisexual had twice the prevalence of smoking and alcohol use and a higher risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression.
Dr. McKetta said bisexual people are particularly at greater health risk, pointing out that they face dual pressures based on their sexual identity and experience discrimination within and outside of the queer community.
He said, “One of the things I was worried about in this study was the conclusion that ‘being homosexual is fatal to your health.’” He added, “You don’t die because you are homosexual. If you are discriminated against, you die. “This is the lived experience of lesbian and bisexual women trying to survive in the world.”
Park Hae-sik, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
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2024-05-13 11:09:15