GAY TRUTH

Logo of the United States National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) While populations are often analyzed by age, sex, and race with respect to cancer risk and cancer outcomes, sexual orientation has previously not been studied as a factor for either cancer incidence or cancer outcome. A study published in the journal Cancer on May 9, 2011 has now specifically examined the cancer survivorship of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual population (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.25950). The study authors found that cancer outcomes differ based on sexual orientation. While there is a dearth of data on cancer survivorship among gay/lesbian/bisexual populations, it has been suggested that these populations generally engage in behaviors that are associated with greater cancer risk. These risk factors include a higher incidence of obesity and alcohol(Drug information on alcohol) consumption among the lesbian population and a higher rate of smoking amo...

Image via Wikipedia Those engaged in the fight against cancer are always looking for risk factors – behaviors which make one person more likely to have cancer than another.  A study published in May, 2011 in the journal Cancer, discovered such a risk factor. In a large study, 8.25 percent of men who self-identify as gay were cancer survivors, versus 5.04 percent of men who self identified as heterosexual.[1]  This is a very significant difference and those who reported on it seemed surprised, which is really surprising since such a difference is totally predictable. Gay men are more likely to smoke (a risk for lung cancer), far more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease, such as human papilloma virus (a risk for anal cancer) or hepatitis (a risk for liver cancer) or HIV/AIDS (a risk for a score of different cancers). They are more likely to begin sexual activity at an earlier age, to abuse drugs and alcohol, to be depressed or suffer from other psychological d...