Overweight and Obesity in Sexual-Minority Women: Evidence From Population-Based Data

Boehmer, Ulrike; Bowen, Deborah J.; Bauer, Greta R.

doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.088419

Cited by 258 publications

(188 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…However, researchers are increasingly recognizing that breast cancer affects all women, regardless of sexual orientation or marital or partnership status. Compared to heterosexual women, sexual minority women, defined as self-identified lesbian and bisexual women and those who prefer female partners [16], may have greater breast cancer risk factors [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], incidence [32], and mortality [33]. Thus, the exclusive focus of most breast cancer survivorship and caregiving research on heterosexual women and dyads carries important implications for the generalizability and translational utility of research findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruitment of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: implications for dyad research and practice

Bazzi

Clark

Winter

et al. 2016

Translational Behavioral Medicine

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Breast cancer survivors' informal caregivers experience adverse health outcomes and could benefit from interventions. Studies of caregivers' participation in research, to date, have assumed heterosexuality. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with caregiver participation among survivors with diversity in sexual orientation. We recruited breast cancer survivors into a telephone survey and asked them to invite a caregiver. Logistic regression identified factors associated with caregivers' participation. Among 297 survivors, 12 (4 %) had no caregivers, 82 (28 %) refused to provide caregiver information, 203 (68 %) provided caregiver contact, and 167 (56 %) had caregivers participate. Caregiver participation was more likely among sexual minority than heterosexual survivors (aOR: 1.89; 95 % CI: 1.08, 3.32), dyads with higher cohesion, and among caregivers who were partners. Caregiver participation was less likely among survivors with lower education and higher comorbidity. Findings provide insight into recruitment of diverse dyads into cancer survivorship research that will ultimately inform intervention design.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruitment of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: implications for dyad research and practice

Bazzi

Clark

Winter

et al. 2016

Translational Behavioral Medicine

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“…Many studies have found higher BMIs in lesbians (Boehmer et al, 2007;Case et al, 2004), which may be associated with "stress" eating. We found that both lesbians and heterosexuals had lower cortisol and IgA levels than abstinent women, but their cortisol and IgA levels did not differ from each other, indicating that lesbians in the current study were not more stressed, either mentally or physically, than heterosexual women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As far as we know, comparable research into eating and exercise has not been conducted on lesbians across their menstrual cycles. Some studies of lesbian health behavior have reported that lesbians have a higher body mass index (BMI) (Case et al, 2004) and higher frequencies of obesity (Boehmer et al, 2007) and substance abuse (Ridner et al, 2006) than heterosexuals. Other studies have found the opposite (Heffernan, 1998) or mixed results (Heffernan, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Menstrual Cycle and Sexual Behavior: Relationship to Eating, Exercise, Sleep, and Health Patterns

Brown¹,

Morrison²,

Calibuso³

et al. 2008

Women & Hlth.

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Patterns of eating, exercise, sleep and health were investigated across 180 menstrual cycles of 89 women who engaged in sex with a male (n = 45; cycles = 85), a female (n = 21; cycles = 37) or abstained from sex (n = 33; cycles = 58) from January 2005 to December 2007 (10 contributed to 2 groups). Cycles were divided into 5 phases based on their luteinizing hormone surges. Daily questionnaires and saliva for IgA and cortisol analyses were obtained. Women indicated that they ate more (p < .008) and did not sleep as well (p = .02) during their luteal and premenstrual phases. Participants were less likely to experience food cravings and did not satisfy their cravings when they were ovulatory (p < .001). Additionally, a greater proportion of lesbians skipped breakfast (p = .01) and exercised less than heterosexuals (p = .05). Sexually active women had lower cortisol and IgA levels than abstinent women (p = .02). Our study discovered, and confirmed, systematic differences in eating, sleeping and health patterns across women's menstrual cycles. Keywordslesbian; IgA; cortisol; alcohol; food cravings and abstinence Substantial research has been conducted on changes in women's sexuality across their menstrual cycles (Bullivant et al., 2004), but considerably fewer studies have been conducted on how other behaviors such as eating, exercise, sleep and health vary across the cycle. Additionally, little is known about how women who engage in sex with other women across a menstrual cycle might differ in their health patterns from women who abstain from or engage in sex with men.Fessler (2003) theorized that women ate less and exercised more at ovulation because their behavior was directed towards mating at this time. In contrast, he argued that women increased their feeding behavior during their luteal phases when implantation was likely. His review of the literature supported his theory. Independent research also found that women ate more (Bryant et al., 2006) and reported more food cravings, especially for chocolate (Michener et al., 1999) and carbohydrates (Cohen et al., 1987) during the luteal phase of their cycles, although the chocolate craving may have a cultural origin (Zellner et al., 2004). Sternfeld et al. (2002) found that moderate levels of physical activity were positively correlated with cycle length. However, most research on exercise and the menstrual cycle has been conducted on women athletes (Goodman & Warren, 2005) and is therefore difficult to generalize to other women. As far as we know, comparable research into eating and exercise has not been conducted on lesbians across their menstrual cycles. Some studies of lesbian health behavior have reported that lesbians have a higher body mass index (BMI) (Case et al., 2004) and higher frequencies of obesity (Boehmer et al., 2007) and substance abuse (Ridner et al., 2006) than heterosexuals. Other studies have found the opposite (Heffernan, 1998) or mixed results (Heffernan, 1996).Objectification and stigmatization theories have been used to explain th...

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“…Compared to heterosexual women, lesbians have been found to have higher body mass index (BMI) [1][2][3][4][5][6] and greater alcohol use, [3][4][5][7][8][9][10] smoking, 1, 3-5, 8, 11, 12 and depressive symptoms. 3,4,13,14 Little is known about the causes of observed disparities in health risks, but one underlying factor may be heightened risk for violence victimization in childhood experienced by lesbian and bisexual women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparities in Child Abuse Victimization in Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women in the Nurses' Health Study II

Austin

Jun

Jackson

et al. 2008

Journal of Women's Health

131

116

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A growing body of research documents multiple health disparities by sexual orientation among women, yet little is known about the possible causes of these disparities. One underlying factor may be heightened risk for abuse victimization in childhood in lesbian and bisexual women. Using survey data from 63,028 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II, we investigated sexual orientation group differences in emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence. Multivariable log-binomial and linear regression models were used to examine orientation group differences in prevalence and severity of abuse, with heterosexual as the referent and controlling for sociodemographics. Results showed strong evidence of elevated frequency, severity, and persistence of abuse experienced by lesbian and bisexual women. Comparing physical abuse victimization occurring in both childhood and adolescence, lesbian (30%; prevalence ratio [PR] 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40, 1.84) and bisexual (24%; PR 1.26; 95% CI 1.00, 1.60) women were more likely to report victimization than were heterosexual women (19%). Similarly, comparing sexual abuse victimization occurring in both age periods, lesbian (19%; PR 2.16; 95% CI 1.80, 2.60) and bisexual (20%; PR 2.29; 95% CI 1.76, 2.98) women were more likely to report victimization than were heterosexual women (9%). This study documents prevalent and persistent abuse disproportionately experienced by lesbian and bisexual women.

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Overweight and Obesity in Sexual-Minority Women: Evidence From Population-Based Data

Cited by 258 publications

References 45 publications

Recruitment of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: implications for dyad research and practice

Recruitment of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: implications for dyad research and practice

The Menstrual Cycle and Sexual Behavior: Relationship to Eating, Exercise, Sleep, and Health Patterns

Disparities in Child Abuse Victimization in Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women in the Nurses' Health Study II

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