LGBTQ+ people may have higher risk of dementia and depression in later life, study suggests

LGBTQ+ people could have a higher risk of dementia and later life depression, possibly brought on by “minority stress” and discrimination, according to the latest research.

The study of more than 393,000 adults, published in the medical journal Neurology on Wednesday (25 September), revealed that LGBTQ+ adults were 15 per cent more likely to suffer adverse brain health outcomes – including dementia, stroke and later-life depression – than their straight, cisgender peers.

The research covered a period between May 2017 and June 2022 and about 10 per cent of participants, who had an average age of 51, identified as queer.

“It is concerning to see the differences in brain health between sexual-gender minority individuals and cisgender straight people,” lead study author Dr Shufan Huo, a post-doctoral research fellow at Yale School of Medicine’s department of neurology, told CNN.

“At the same time, I am glad that we can raise awareness for this often-overlooked group. Medicine has traditionally focused on white, male patients, but nowadays we realise this approach does not sufficiently address the needs of our diverse population,” she added.

Huo described the results, when broken down into specific identities, as remarkable.

“People assigned male at birth had higher rates of late-life depression compared [with] the cisgender population, whereas sexual-minority people assigned female at birth, and gender-diverse people, had higher rates of dementia. Transgender women had higher rates of stroke.

“These findings show that each group has distinct risk profiles, for example because of differences in societal stigma.”

The study concluded there was no evidence that being LGBTQ+ on its own caused worse brain health, but increased risk factors were likely to come from a combination of issues such as stress, discrimination and mental-health conditions, including depression and anxiety.

This is not the first time research has shown that “minority stress” – the chronic condition that comes with being part of a group that faces discrimination – can affect health outcomes. Studies have found that, when combined with issues such as discrimination in healthcare or lack of access to healthcare, it can increase the risk of cancer.

The cancer-risk study underlined how discrimination within healthcare can affect health outcomes for queer people. On average, one in every six LGBTQ+ adults – one in five when it came to transgender adults – said they avoided healthcare settings because of discrimination.

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