Those identifying as mostly heterosexual or lesbian, gay, bisexual had higher prevalence of migraine
TUESDAY, Sept. 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Migraine is more common among sexual-minority groups than individuals identifying as exclusively heterosexual, according to a research letter published online Sept. 28 in JAMA Neurology.
Jason M. Nagata, M.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues evaluated the association between sexual orientation and migraine using data from 9,894 U.S. adults (aged 31 to 42 years old) participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (2016 to 2018).
The researchers found that 85.8 percent of participants identified as exclusively heterosexual, 10 percent mostly heterosexual, and 4.2 percent as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Among individuals who reported being mostly heterosexual (30.3 percent) and lesbian, gay, or bisexual (30.7 percent), the prevalence of migraine was higher versus those who reported being exclusively heterosexual (19.4 percent). Those who were mostly heterosexual had higher odds of migraine (unadjusted model: odds ratio [OR], 1.80; adjusted model: OR, 1.35), as did those who were lesbian, gay, or bisexual (unadjusted model: OR, 1.83; adjusted model: OR, 1.58). Results were similar when stratified by sex.
“Clinicians and researchers should be aware of health disparities in migraine, including sexual orientation, in addition to biological and behavioral risk factors,” the authors write.
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