Summary: A new research suggests that LGBTQ+ individuals may experience a higher risk of severe mental health outcomes, including memory and late-life sadness, than their cisgender and immediately counterparts.
Researchers analyzed data from 393, 041 members and found that LGBTQ+ persons were 15 % more likely to develop problems like strokes, melancholy, or memory. These discrepancies may be linked to elements such as prejudice, stress, and care access. The results emphasize the need for further studies on LGBTQ+ health disparities.
Important information:
- LGBTQ+ people are 14 % more likely to develop dementia and 27 % more likely to face late-life depression.
- In contrast to transgender people, transgender women are 68 % more likely to experience a stroke.
- Study underscores the need for research into LGBTQ+ medical differences.
Origin: AAN
LGBTQ+ individuals may be more likely to include negative mental health outcomes, including a higher risk of memory and late-life sadness, than people who are transgender and right, according to a research published in the September 25, 2024, online matter of , Neurology.  , These findings do not show that intimate or gender diversity causes neurological conditions, they simply show an organization.
LGBTQ+ refers to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex, plus other people who are romantically or gender different. Lesbian, gay, or lesbian people are among those whose sexual preference is distinct from direct people.
Gender variety refers to people who have gender identities that do not conform to the sex they were born with, including transgender and nonbinary people. Those whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth are known as” cisgender.”
It remains concerning how little is known about the health disparities faced by LGBTQ+ people, according to research author Shufan Huo, MD, PhD at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, despite the extremely recognized part of equitable health care.
This group, which has previously been underrepresented in neural study, was examined by our study, and revealed that they were more likely to experience negative brain health effects.
For the study, researchers evaluated information from 393, 041 persons with an average period of 51. Of the entire team, 353, 409 were cis and immediately people, and 39, 632 were LGBTQ+ individuals.
Experts evaluated electronic health records and self-reported data to identify a composite score of the following neural problems: memory, late-life melancholy and injury. They then evaluated each disease separately and looked at all subgroups of the LGBTQ+ participants.
A total of 21, 091 people had a neurological disease. Of those, 11, 553 people had late-life depression, 6, 605 people had strokes and 2, 933 people had dementia.
When compared to those who identified as cisgender and straight, researchers found that LGBTQ+ people were 15 % more likely to develop negative brain health outcomes in these conditions after adjusting for factors that could affect the risk of these three neurological conditions, such as age, smoking, or high blood pressure.
Researchers also found that LGBTQ+ people had a higher risk of dementia and late-life depression, 14 % and 27 % respectively, than people who were cisgender and straight.
According to Huo, “our findings underscore the need for further research examining the health disparities affecting the LGBTQ+ community.” ” Possible reasons for these disparities could include discrimination, stress, access to health care and policy and legal factors”.
Researchers examined the risk of stroke and found that only transgender women were 68 % more likely than cisgender people to be at risk.
The study’s one drawback was that it failed to examine the causes and mechanisms underlying the injustices experienced by LGBTQ+ people. For instance, the study did not examine whether transgender people receive gender-affirming hormone therapy, which might contribute to increased stroke risk in transgender women.
Funding: The study was supported by the German Research Foundation.
About this research on depression and dementia
Author: Renee Tessman
Source: AAN
Contact: Renee Tessman – AAN
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will appear in Neurology
