Lesbian and Bisexual Women Face Higher Risk of Premature Death Than Heterosexual Counterparts –The findings of a recent study, analyzing over three decades of data, reveal that lesbian and bisexual women have a higher likelihood of experiencing premature mortality compared to heterosexual women.
The lead author of the study emphasizes the profound impact of discrimination on health outcomes, stating, “The experience of discrimination can have lethal consequences.”
Lesbian and bisexual women face a startling reality: they are more likely to experience premature death compared to heterosexual women, with some cases showing up to a 37% earlier mortality rate.
This grim revelation stems from an extensive analysis of women’s medical records dating back to 1989, conducted as part of the Nurses Health Study II. This longitudinal study focuses on chronic illnesses in women and examines associated risk factors.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, highlights that participants identifying as lesbian or bisexual exhibited significantly earlier mortality rates compared to heterosexual women.
Specifically, lesbian women faced a 20% shorter lifespan, while bisexual women faced a staggering 37% shorter lifespan compared to their heterosexual counterparts.
The study’s lead author, Sarah McKetta, emphasized a notable aspect of the research: the ability to differentiate between bisexual and lesbian participants.
This unique approach, made possible by a sufficiently large sample size and extended follow-up period, allows for a distinct examination of the risks faced by each subgroup, a feat not previously achieved in U.S. studies.
McKetta explained to NBC News, “One of the advantages of this study is that we were able to separate out bisexual and lesbian participants, because we had enough people and we followed them for long enough that we can actually look at those risks separately, which no other U.S. study has been able to do.”
She further highlighted the longstanding recognition of systemic health disparities affecting LGB individuals, particularly LGB women, across various health outcomes.
McKetta emphasized, “We’ve known for a really long time that there are systemic and highly reproducible health disparities for LGB people, particularly LGB women, across many outcomes. We’ve seen disparities in tobacco use and alcohol use, in mental health, in chronic disease.
Basically, pretty much any outcome that we’ve looked at across multiple surveys, we see that lesbian, gay, and bisexual women are at higher risk.
As McKetta highlighted, discrimination plays a significant role in these disparities, manifesting in various forms from systemic barriers within healthcare systems to discriminatory behaviors exhibited by individual providers.
She explained to NBC News, “We also know it’s due to levels of discrimination, ranging from structural to individual.”
Regarding the heightened risk faced by bisexual women, McKetta elaborated that they encounter unique challenges due to their identity. She noted, “they have these dual pressures given their identity, and they experience discrimination from both inside and outside of queer communities.”
Supporting this perspective, a report in the National Library of Medicine suggests that “Bisexual women report elevated alcohol and drug use compared to other sexual minority women,” indicating potential coping mechanisms or responses to the stressors and discrimination they face.
Another study revealed that “bisexual women are at higher risk than heterosexual and lesbian women for mental health problems, such as depression, and these disparities relate to the unique stressors that bisexual women experience.”
McKetta expressed a concern regarding the potential interpretation of the study’s findings, stating, “One of the things that I was worried about with this study is that the takeaway would be that it kills to be gay. It doesn’t kill to be gay. It kills to be discriminated against.
And that’s the lived experience of lesbian and gay women and bisexual women who are just trying to walk through the world.”
This underscores the critical distinction between sexual orientation itself and the discrimination and stigma often associated with it.
It’s not being gay or bisexual that poses a threat to health and well-being, but rather the discrimination and prejudice these individuals face in various aspects of their lives.
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