Until recently however, sexual orientation was not recorded routinely in UK population health surveys and remains poorly recorded in national data collection from services such as the UK’s Increased Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. Similar results have been found in clinical, community and convenience samples. Population surveys involving comprehensive psychiatric interviews have shown increased risk of common mental disorders among LGB adults. Although these findings are restricted to high-income countries, data from low income countries are minimally available. Population-based evidence of poorer mental health in LGB people has been found in samples from the United States, Netherlands and England. Such disparities are thought to emerge early in adolescence and persist into adulthood. Associations between minority sexual orientation and poorer mental health have persisted over time with recent studies showing the same effects as older studies. Meta-analysis following this review found that LGB people were around twice as likely to have attempted suicide in their lifetime and have around 1.5 times higher prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders in the preceding 12 months. A systematic review of the prevalence of mental disorder, substance abuse, suicidality and self-harm in LGB people showed that these populations experience a greater incidence of depression, anxiety, suicidality and substance misuse than heterosexuals. not having ‘positive mental health’ ) are common in the adult population but there is established evidence that adults who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are at higher risk of experiencing these symptoms than adults who identify as heterosexual. anxiety, depression) and low wellbeing (e.g. These inequalities may emerge in adolescence and early adulthood, then persist throughout the lifecourse. We know that sexual minority populations experience poorer physical heath and engage in riskier health behaviours such as smoking and hazardous drinking.
These results reiterate the need for local government, NHS providers and public health policy makers to consider how to address inequalities in mental health among these minority groups.Īround 1–2 % of the United Kingdom’s adult population identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) and 5 % as non-heterosexual, although because sexual orientation comprises identity, behaviour and attraction, the chosen definition used can lead to variability in these estimates. Sexual orientation identity should be measured routinely in all health studies and in administrative data in the UK in order to influence national and local policy development and service delivery. In the UK, LGB adults have higher prevalence of poor mental health and low wellbeing when compared to heterosexuals, particularly younger and older LGB adults.
These effects were stronger for bisexual adults, similar for those identifying as ‘other’, and similar for 'low wellbeing'. Adjusting for a range of covariates, adults who identified as lesbian/gay had higher prevalence of common mental disorder when compared to heterosexuals, but the association was different in different age groups: apparent for those under 35 (OR = 1.78, 95 % CI 1.40, 2.26), weaker at age 35–54.9 (OR = 1.42, 95 % CI 1.10, 1.84), but strongest at age 55+ (OR = 2.06, 95 % CI 1.29, 3.31). Of 94,818 participants, 1.1 % identified as lesbian/gay, 0.9 % as bisexual, 0.8 % as ‘other’ and 97.2 % as heterosexual. Individual participant meta-analysis was used to pool estimates from each study, allowing for between-study variation. Individual data were pooled from the British Cohort Study 2012, Health Survey for England 2011, 20, Scottish Health Survey 2008 to 2013, Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2009/10 and Understanding Society 2011/12. Our aims were to determine an estimate of the association between sexual orientation identity and poor mental health and wellbeing among adults from 12 population surveys in the UK, and to consider whether effects differed for specific subgroups of the population. Previous studies have indicated increased risk of mental disorder symptoms, suicide and substance misuse in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults, compared to heterosexual adults.