Cancer site distribution does not vary with sexual orientation
Sexual orientation of patients with cancer did not appear to influence the distribution of disease sites, according to researchers in the United Kingdom.
However, sexual minorities appeared overrepresented in cases of HIV- and HPV-associated cancers.
“Over the last 30 years, there has been substantial research effort in the area of the health of sexual minority populations; however, this research has focused on sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV, and little is known about how cancer risk varies among sexual minorities compared with heterosexual populations,” Catherine L. Saunders, PhD, senior research associate at University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “This contrasts with the increasing disease burden that is associated with cancer, which is currently the leading cause of death in high-income countries, and, after mental health services and circulatory diseases, cancer services make up the third largest category of spending in contemporary health care systems.”
The researchers reviewed data of 796,594 participants in the English General Practice Patient Survey, a national survey designed to gauge patients’ health care experience. Saunders and colleagues evaluated the prevalence of self-reported cancer diagnoses from the last 5 years, then compared prevalence of cancers in sexual minorities with that of heterosexual patients. They also reviewed 249,010 respondents to a hospital-based survey using sexual orientation as a binary outcome, and used International Classification of Diseases diagnosis as covariates. The analysis included 38 cancers to determine the prevalence of various cancer sites among sexual minorities.
Men who identified as gay or bisexual reported cancer diagnoses more frequently than heterosexual men (OR = 1.31; 95% CI, 1.15-1.49), although the researchers identified no difference in diagnoses between lesbian and bisexual women compared with heterosexual women (OR = 1.14; 95% CI, 0.94-1.37).
Cancer site diagnosis appeared independent of sexual orientation for 30 of 33 common and rare cancer sites in women and 28 of 32 cancer sites in men. However, gay and bisexual men were overrepresented for Kaposi sarcoma diagnosis (OR = 48.2; 95% CI, 22-105.6), anal cancer (OR = 15.5; 95% CI, 11-21.9) and penile cancer (OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 0.9-3.7). Similarly, lesbian and bisexual women appeared disproportionately represented in cases of oropharyngeal cancer (OR = 3.2; 95% CI, 1.7-6).
“Demographic data on cancer among people from sexual minorities are scarce; these findings begin to address this evidential need,” Saunders and colleagues wrote. “Finally, our research also highlights the importance of HPV vaccination among gay, lesbian and bisexual women and men.” – by Andy Polhamus
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.