Health Inqueery

The Institute of Medicine released a study of LGBT persons across the United States on March 31st. This study is significant because most LGBT health projects, until now, were organized an executed within the gay community itself. The study came to the ultimate conclusion that more research is needed to accurately assess the health of LGBT Americans.

Here are some of the findings:

• There are tremendous gaps in practitioner knowledge and training of the health needs of LGBT people, as well as an overall lack of education regarding the health needs and concerns within the American LGBT Community.
• LGBT Americans have poor access to health insurance
  
• High rates of mental health problems, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts/attempts and depression
• Increased risk of contracting STI's including, of course, HIV
• Lesbians and bisexual women may be at an increased risk for breast cancer, higher rates of obesity and greater rates of smoking and alcohol consumption then heterosexual women
• Overall, the LGBT community smokes more than the heterosexual community
  
• Some studies have indicated that long term use of hormone therapy may increase risk of cancer, although the report also noted that more research is required
• Older LGBTs are less likely to have access to medical care for the elderly and are less likely to live with partners into old age than their heterosexual counterparts
• In American society at large, men typically show more of an interest in sex than women. This pattern occurs within the LGBT community as well
  

However, more important than a laundry list of health findings and statistics is the underlying cause of those findings: the social pressure of living as a sexual minority. The study notes this truth, but also acknowledges that more research must be conducted to attain a more nuanced understanding of the effects of mainstream society on LGBT people.

Of course their are significant holes in this study. In fact, the study itself acknowledges that. The report recommends that researchers collect more data on gender identity and sexual orientation as well as recommending that researchers include LGBT people in their studies. Also it noted that more needs to be done to account for differences among race, geographical location and socioeconomic status with the LGBT Community

The fact that the study exists is a step in the right direction. Now comes the hard part: qualifying the data and convincing more LGBT people to participate in future health studies (ultimately the success of future studies will boil down to the degree of LGBT participation). Yet overall, the publish of such a report is a victory for equality.