Dataset Information

Sexual orientation identity in relation to smoking history and alcohol use at age 18/19: cross-sectional associations from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Information about the health behaviours of minority groups is essential for addressing health inequalities. We evaluated the association among lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) sexual orientation identity and smoking and alcohol use in young people in England.

Design

Data drawn from wave 6 of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).

Setting

Self-completion questionnaires during home visits, face-to-face interviews and web-based questionnaires.

Participants

Data from 7698 participants (3762 men) with information on sexual orientation identity and health behaviours at age 18/19.

Outcome measures

Cigarette smoking history, alcohol drinking frequency and risky single occasion drinking (RSOD).

Results

LGB identity was reported by 3.1% of participants (55 gay, 33 lesbian, 35 bisexual male, 111 bisexual female), 3.5% when adjusting for the survey design. Adjusting for a range of covariates, identification as lesbian/gay was found to be associated with smoking (OR=2.23, 95% CI 1.42 to 3.51), alcohol drinking >2 days/week (OR=1.99, 95% CI 1.25 to 3.17) and RSOD (OR=1.80, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.86) more than weekly. Bisexual identity was associated with smoking history (OR=1.84, 95% CI 1.30 to 2.61) but not alcohol drinking >2 days/week (OR=1.20, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.81) or RSOD (OR=1.04, 95% CI 0.71 to 2.86).

Conclusions

In a sample of more than 7600 young people aged 18/19 years in England, lesbian/gay identity is associated with cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol frequency and RSOD. Bisexual identity is associated with smoking but not RSOD or frequent alcohol drinking.

SUBMITTER: Hagger-Johnson G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3758978 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveTo assess associations between sexual orientation and smoking and quitting behavior among adults in England.MethodsData were collected from 112 537 adults (≥16 years) participating in a nationally representative monthly cross-sectional survey between July 2013 and February 2019. Sexual orientation was self-reported as heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian/gay, or prefer-not-to-say. Main outcomes were smoking status, e-cigarette use, cigarettes per day, time to first cigarette, motivation to stop smoking, motives for quitting, use of cessation support, and past-year quit attempts. Associations were analyzed separately for men and women using multivariable regression models adjusted for relevant covariates.ResultsSmoking prevalence is now similar between gay (21.6%), prefer-not-to-say (20.5%) and heterosexual men (20.0%), and lesbian (18.3%) and heterosexual women (16.9%), but remains higher among bisexual men (28.2%, adjusted odds ratio [ORadj] = 1.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11 to 1.79) and bisexual women (29.8%, ORadj = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.33 to 2.03) and lower among prefer-not-to-say women (14.5%, ORadj = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.72 to 0.99). Among smokers, bisexuals were less addicted than heterosexuals, with bisexual men smoking fewer cigarettes per day (Badj = -2.41, 95% CI = -4.06 to -0.75) and bisexual women less likely to start smoking within 30 min of waking (ORadj = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.45 to 0.95) than heterosexuals. However, motivation to stop smoking and quit attempts did not differ significantly.ConclusionsIn England, differences in smoking prevalence among people with different sexual orientations have narrowed, primarily driven by a larger decline in smoking rates among sexual minority groups than heterosexuals. Bisexual men and women remain more likely to smoke but have lower levels of addiction while being no less likely to try to quit.ImplicationsThis population-based study provides an up-to-date picture of smoking and quitting behavior in relation to sexual orientation among adults in England. Findings suggest that widely documented disparities in smoking prevalence have narrowed over recent years, with gay men and lesbian women no longer significantly more likely to smoke than heterosexuals, although smoking remains more common among bisexual men and women. Insights into differences in level of addiction, use of cessation support, and motives for quitting may help inform the development of targeted interventions to further reduce smoking among sexual minority groups.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:To assess the association between tobacco and hazardous alcohol use and sexual orientation and whether such an association could be explained by other sociodemographic characteristics. DESIGN:Cross-sectional household survey conducted in 2014-2016. SETTING:England, UK. PARTICIPANTS:Representative English population sample (pooled n=43?866). MAIN OUTCOMES:Sexual orientation identity (lesbian/gay, bisexual, heterosexual, prefer-not-to-say); current tobacco and hazardous alcohol use (defined as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Score ?8). All outcomes were self-reported. RESULTS:Due to interactions between sexual orientation and gender for substance use, analyses were stratified by gender. Tobacco use prevalence was significantly higher among lesbian/gay (women: 24.9%, 95% CI 19.2% to 32.6%; men: 25.9%, 95%?CI 21.3% to 31.0%) and bisexual participants (women: 32.4%, 95%?CI 25.9% to 39.6%; men: 30.7%, 95%?CI 23.7% to 30.7%) and significantly lower for prefer-not-to-say participants in women (15.5%, 95%?CI 13.5% to 17.8%) but not men (22.7%, 95%?CI 20.3% to 25.3%) compared with heterosexual participants (women: 17.5%, 95%?CI 17.0% to 18.0%; men: 20.4%, 95%?CI 19.9% to 21.0%; p<0.001 for omnibus test). Similarly, hazardous alcohol use was significantly more prevalent for lesbian/gay (women: 19.0%, 95%?CI 14.0% to 25.3%; men: 30.0%, 25.2%-35.3%) and bisexual participants (women: 24.4%, 95%?CI 18.7% to 31.3%; men: 24.3%, 95%?CI 17.9% to 32.1%) and lower for prefer-not-to-say participants (women: 4.1%, 95%?CI 3.0% to 5.4%; men: 13.7%; 95%?CI 11.8% to 16.0%) compared with heterosexuals (women: 8.3%, 95%?CI 7.9% to 8.7%; men: 18.4%, 95%?CI 17.9% to 18.9%; p<0.001 for omnibus test). However, after adjusting for sociodemographic confounders, tobacco use was similar across all sexual orientation groups among both women and men. By contrast, sexual orientation differences in hazardous alcohol use remained even after adjustment among women but not for bisexual and gay men. CONCLUSIONS:In England, higher rates of tobacco use among sexual minority men and women appear to be attributable to other sociodemographic factors. Higher rates of hazardous alcohol use among sexual minority men may also be attributable to these factors, whereas this is not the case for sexual minority women.