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Posted on Jun 22, 2018, 2 p.m.
As compared to heterosexual men across several modifiable risk factors bisexual men have been found to have higher risk for heart disease, as published in the journal LGBT Health.
Impacts of sexual orientation on cardiovascular health of men have been highlighted in the findings according to the researchers, and public health practitioners and clinicians should work to develop tailored screening and prevention to help reduce the risks of heart disease in bisexual men.
Heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, 30% of men within the USA have some form of heart disease. Little is known about possible impacts of sexual orientation in regards to risk of heart disease in men; in an attempt to address the void researchers examined differences in modifiable risk factors for heart disease and diagnoses in men of different sexual orientations which included mental distress, tobacco use, binge drinking, exercise, diet, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, age, and obesity among others. Participants were considered to have a diagnosis of heart disease if they reported having things such as angina, stroke, heart failure, heart attack, or coronary heart disease.
Responses were analyzed from 7,731 adult male participants between the ages of 20 to 58 who had taken part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participant were put into four groups based on sexual identities: Heterosexual, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men who have sex with men, with differences being examined across the four groups.
No differences were found in heart disease diagnoses based on sexual orientation, risk of heart disease was more involved. Heterosexual men who had sex with men, heterosexual, and gay men were found to have similar heart disease risks. Gay men reported more binge drinking with otherwise few health behavior differences noted. Bisexual men were found to have higher rates of several risk factors for heart disease which included three different measures of diabetes, mental stress, elevated blood pressure, and obesity.
Importance of disaggregating analyses for bisexual and gay participants to ascertain differences in health outcomes between the subgroups was noted by the researchers. Poor mental health is a known risk factor for development of heart disease, researchers suggest that clinicians need to be educated about sexual minority health and routinely screen bisexual men for mental distress. To help identify risk groups healthcare organizations are increasingly including sexual orientation as part of demographic questionnaires in electronic health records.
