Lesbian and bisexual women face a significantly higher risk of early death compared to heterosexual women, according to a new study from Harvard. Researchers attribute this disparity to the impacts of discrimination.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study reveals that lesbian and bisexual women die 26% sooner on average than their heterosexual counterparts. Specifically, lesbian women have a 20% higher mortality rate, while bisexual women face a staggering 37% higher mortality rate.
These findings underscore the urgent need to address the health disparities faced by sexual minority women, which lead to poorer health outcomes and premature mortality. The research was conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in collaboration with other institutions, analyzing data from the Nurses’ Health Study II. This extensive cohort study involved over 100,000 female nurses and linked sexual orientation data with nearly three decades of death records.
Sarah McKetta, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow, emphasized that the chronic stress and unhealthy coping mechanisms resulting from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination against LGBTQ individuals significantly compromise their health. “The sexual orientation–related inequities in mortality highlight the urgent need to address preventable causes, particularly given the increasingly hostile policy climate for LGBTQ people in the U.S.,” McKetta stated.
Brittany Charlton, senior author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, noted the particularly high premature mortality rate for bisexual women. This group faces unique stressors, including discrimination from both outside and within the LGBTQ community, a phenomenon rooted in biphobia. “Bisexual women face distinct stressors from outside, as well as within, the LGBTQ community that are rooted in biphobia,” Charlton explained. “Additionally, bisexual people are often excluded from various communities because they’re assumed to be straight or gay based on their partner’s gender.”
The situation is similarly dire in Australia. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that 80.1% of bisexual people experience a mental disorder at some point in their lives, compared to 41.7% of heterosexual people. A 2021 study highlighted that bisexual women are at higher risk for mental health issues due to the unique stressors associated with their identity. Moreover, they report higher rates of alcohol and drug use compared to other sexual minority women, as noted in a study published in the National Library of Medicine.
While the Harvard study’s findings on the premature mortality of lesbian and bisexual women are concerning, McKetta hopes they will spur increased support and positive changes for the health and wellbeing of this population. “One of the things that I was worried about with this study is that the takeaway would be that it kills to be gay,” McKetta told US News. “It doesn’t kill to be gay. It kills to be discriminated against. And that’s the lived experience of lesbian and gay women and bisexual women who are just trying to walk through the world.”
