Overweight and Obesity in Long-Term Breast Cancer Survivors: How Does Sexual Orientation Impact BMI?

Abstract

In noncancer populations lesbians have greater odds of obesity compared with heterosexual women, suggesting a similar pattern among cancer survivors. Weight of cancer survivors is an important area of study because obesity is associated with an increased risk of recurrence and shorter survival. Sixty-nine lesbian and bisexual and 257 heterosexual survivors of breast cancer were recruited to participate in a one-time telephone survey. Multinomial logit models do not support disparities in obesity due to sexual orientation. Our findings in breast cancer survivors suggest that lesbians are more likely to improve their weight-related behaviors after cancer than heterosexual women.

Keywords: :

• Breast neoplasms
• Survivorship
• Body mass index
• Homosexuality
• Female
• Disparity

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are grateful to the participants who took the time to respond to our questions and completed the survey.