Rates of Skin Cancer Among Sexual Minorities
Posted: Monday, February 24, 2020
In a study conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, men who identify as gay or bisexual had an increased self-reported lifetime prevalence of skin cancer in comparison to heterosexual men. In addition, women who identify as bisexual had lower odds of lifetime prevalence of skin cancer compared with heterosexual women. Arash Mostaghimi, MD, MPA, MPH, Director of Dermatology Inpatient Service at Brigham and Women’s, published these study findings with his colleagues in JAMA Dermatology.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to look nationally at data about skin cancer rates among sexual minorities,” said Dr. Mostaghimi in a Brigham and Women’s press release. “As a next step, we want to connect with sexual minority communities to help identify the cause of these differences in skin cancer rates.”
The cross-sectional study analyzed data from the 2014 to 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys, which included 845,264 adult patients who self-identified as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Of the total study participants, 351,468 were heterosexual men, 7,517 were gay men, 5,088 were bisexual men, 466,355 were heterosexual women, 5,392 were lesbian women, and 9,445 were bisexual women. Participants self-reported skin cancer diagnoses, which were not confirmed by a physician.
The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of skin cancer prevalence was higher among both gay (AOR = 1.26) and bisexual (AOR = 1.48) men than among heterosexual men. Heterosexual men had a skin cancer rate of 6.7%, compared with rates of 8.1% and 8.4% among gay and bisexual men, respectively. Among lesbian women, the skin cancer rate was 5.9%, compared with 6.6% among heterosexual women and 4.7% among bisexual women.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jamanetwork.com.
