Cancer screening among sexual minority groups in the United States

Abstract

This study assessed the prevalence and likelihood of being up-to-date with cancer screening tests based on sexual orientation among United States (US) adults. It is a secondary analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey 6, a nationally representative survey of civilian, non-institutionalized adults aged 18 or older living in the United States. A descriptive analysis of the sociodemographic characteristics based on cancer screening was done with a survey-weighted Chi-Squared test. Survey-weighted binomial multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between sexual orientation and being up-to-date with cancer screening tests. In addition, logistic regression using the backward selection method was also used to evaluate factors associated with not being up-to-date with cancer screening among the sexual minority (SM) population alone. There were 5209 heterosexual individuals (non-SM) and 439 SM individuals (58 lesbian women, 93 gay men, 148 bisexual women, 35 bisexual men, and 105 other SM groups). Approximately 17.5 % of non-SM individuals in the US are up-to-date with cancer screening tests, while 10.9 % of SM people are up-to-date with cancer screening. The prevalences of up-to-date cancer screening among the different SM populations include gay men (7.4 %), lesbian women (12.6 %), bisexual men (8.7 %), bisexual women (9.7 %), and other SM groups (15.5 %). SM people are 1.56 times (CI: 1.06 – 2.91, p<0.03) more likely to not be up-to-date with cancer screening tests compared to non-SM individuals after adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics. SM individuals who are less than 40 years old (aOR = 4.16, CI: 1.54–11.20, p=0.006), not married (aOR = 2.75, CI: 1.05–7.15, p=0.041), and currently smoke (aOR = 5.60, CI: 1.09–28.85, p=0.040) are more likely not to be up-date with cancer screening. This study provided crucial information that further bridged gaps in cancer disparities among the SM population and provided information that could help define SM-specific interventions to increase the rates of cancer screening among this population.