Lesbian, gay, bisexual individuals at increased risk for difficulty concentrating

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual may be at increased risk for experiencing subjective concentration complaints, according to study results published in Journal of Psychiatric Research.

“[Lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals] may be at greater risk [for subjective cognitive complaints] for several reasons,” Louis Jacob, PhD, of the Research and Development Unit at the University of Barcelona, and colleagues wrote. “When considering identified correlates of [subjective cognitive complaints], [lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals] have been found to have high levels of sleep problems, anxiety and stress due to experiences of prejudice, discrimination and victimization. It is therefore possible that such correlates may be associated with higher levels of [subjective cognitive complaints] in sexual minorities.”

The investigators sought to assess this potential association among a sample of 7,400 individuals from England who had cross-sectional data included in the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. They also sought to elucidate the extent to which several behavioral, psychological and clinical factors could explain this association. They dichotomized sexual orientation into heterosexual and lesbian, gay and bisexual orientation and considered subjective concentration and memory complaints as subjective cognitive complaints. Sex, age, ethnicity, marital status, education, employment and income served as control variables. Smoking status, alcohol dependence, perceived stress, number of stressful life events, depression, any anxiety disorder, sleep problems and obesity were influential factors.

Results showed a positive and significant association between lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals and subjective concentration (OR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.12-1.76) but not memory complaints (OR = 1.19; 95% CI, 0.96-1.47) after adjusting for control variables. Totals of 13.4%, 11% and 10.9% of the association between sexual orientation and subjective concentration complaints were explained by stressful life events, sleep problems and any anxiety disorder, respectively.

“Targeted interventions towards [lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals] to reduce [subjective cognitive complaints] may be warranted,” Jacob and colleagues wrote. “Such interventions may wish to focus on mediators identified in the present study and thus implement interventions that focus on reducing stress, anxiety and improving sleep. Interventions that contain mind-body exercises (eg, tai-chi, yoga) may result in favorable outcomes in relation to all mediators identified in the present study.”