LGBTQ + health factors and outcomes differences across gender identity: Comparisons between cisgender minorities, transgender minorities, and nonbinary/genderqueer minorities

Abstract

Introduction:

LGBTQ + people are often studied as a uniform population. This study sought to examine health factors and outcomes across cisgender (CG) minorities, transgender (TG) minorities, and nonbinary/genderqueer (NBGQ) minorities.

Method:

A self-reporting, cross-sectional survey was distributed to a sample of LGBTQ + people in a Midwest state. Binary logistic regressions were analyzed to identify significant minority subgroup differences in health factors and outcomes across gender identity.

Result:

Compared to CG minorities (n = 520), TG minorities (n = 42) had higher odds (ORs = 2.0 to 3.9) of having a depression diagnosis, overall poor health, suicide ideation, and victimization. Likewise, compared to CG minorities, NBGQ minorities (n = 69) had higher odds (ORs = 1.9 to 4.2) of having depression symptoms, disability, a suicide attempt, and victimization. There were no significant differences in health factors and outcomes between TG minorities and NBGQ minorities.

Conclusion:

These gender-specific disparities may be secondary to unique obstacles (e.g., gender minority-related systemic discrimination) that gender diverse minorities face much more often than CG minorities. Further investigation into these distinctive minority subgroups is needed to establish future guidance for understanding and optimizing healthcare in LGBTQ + communities.

Keywords:

• Genderqueer
• nonbinary
• physical health
• gender identity
• transgender
• healthcare needs
• disparities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the LGBTQ + organizations involved in distributing the survey used in this study as well as the Damien Center for supporting and providing these data.

Ethics statement

Since these data were deidentified, this study was deemed research not subject to human subjects regulations by the Indiana University Institutional Review Board (IRB, Protocol #2007799619).

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The authors report that all relevant data are within the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors report that there was no funding.