May 082017

Can you spare 30 minutes a year to increase our knowledge of LGBTQ health?

Do you identify as LGBTQ?

If yes, then please check out The PRIDE Study!

The PRIDE Study is a new longitudinal study by the t of California San Francisco. It is the first long-term study ever launched on LGBTQ health.

Long time readers may remember when I wrote about the Institute of Medicine report on LGBT health. I jokingly summarize it as “400 pages to say that we need more data.” With studies like The PRIDE Study, we can change that. We can get real, hard, high quality data on the health needs of our communities.

Knowing the health needs of our neighbors, lovers, and friends means we can have a real impact on their health.

As always, data collected as part of the study is kept confidential. You can opt out any time you want. You can also opt into additional studies that will be connected to The PRIDE Study.

So please — if you identify as LGBTQ and can spare 30 minutes a year, join The PRIDE Study.

And spread the word!

We’ll be back to our regular programming here at Open Minded Health next week.

Mar 202017

The term “gender and sexual minorities” isn’t just sexual orientation and gender identity. It also includes relationship structures, like non-monogamy, and sexual practices. Perhaps the most common minority sexual practice is BDSM/kink. BDSM stands for bondage, dominance, submission/sadism, and masochism. The terms BDSM and kink are roughly interchangeable. For today’s article I’ll be using the term kink.

Kink is an activity between consenting adults for the purpose of creating intense physical and/or psychological experiences. The intense sensations can range from physical restraint (bondage) to tickling to pain. Psychological experiences can include role playing and voluntary power exchanges. Power exchange is where one person “takes control” for a period of time. Fetishes are common. Experiences are often called “play.” There can be significant overlap between kink, polyamory, sex positivity, and LGBT communities.

As many as 2-10% of people enjoy kink. Many more have thoughts of it. Some prefer kink activities over non-kink activities. Others identify as kink-oriented or kinky. Kink-oriented people see it as part of their identity, like being gay. Still others only enjoy it from time to time. They dabble but don’t feel strongly attached.

Unfortunately, kink is heavily stigmatized in the United States. As a result kink-oriented people are afraid of “coming out”. There is also minimal understanding or acceptance of kink in the medical community. In fact, it is often confused for abuse or intimate partner violence. Patients who practice kink may not be able to get the healthcare they need.

The Kink Health Project

Rope is commonly used in kink

So what about the study? Today’s study, the Kink Health Project, was a qualitative study. The researchers came together with community members and asked open ended questions. They collected the free-form information and found themes. Aside from the demographics, no statistics here, just concepts and idea.

The study was done in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. TASHRA played a huge role. The study was designed with input from 16 community members. Then there were large “town hall” meetings, small focus groups, and interviews. So participants could keep the level of privacy they wanted. Researchers asked about experiences and thoughts about health care and kink.

In total, 115 people participated. Although they were mostly non-heterosexual (79%) and white (81%), they were also diverse in terms of age, experience in kink, and gender identity. 19% were gender non-conforming. Preferred kink role (dominant, submissive, or switch) was evenly distributed across the participants.

Despite concerns of stigma, 44 participants had visited a health care provider for a kink-related concern. 38% were “out” to their provider about practicing kink.


When researchers analyzed the data, they saw five themes emerge:

  • Physical health
  • Sociocultural aspects
  • Stigma’s impact on interactions with physicians
  • Coming out to health care providers
  • Kink-aware medical care

Physical health is perhaps the easiest aspect to grasp. Many of the practices in kink can impact health. The most common injuries in this study include bruising and related trauma, broken skin, nerve damage, fainting, burns, and needle-sticks (and other blood exposure). Despite these risks, some participants reported better physical health because of kink. They felt better about themselves. So they took better care of themselves.

As part of taking care of themselves, they wanted specific testing. Participants wanted the ability to have more frequent or complete STD or blood-bourne disease testing. They wanted testing based on their own individual risks. Not testing based on the population at large. Population risks often simply didn’t apply. It’s like pregnancy testing a lesbian who’s never had sex with a man.

Most said they got health information from their communities, not physicians. Why? Certainly they did want good health information. They especially wanted individualized medical care so they could play safely. So why get information from the community? Because they had a lot of fear of stigma from medical professionals. And because healthcare professionals don’t often know about kink, they could get better knowledge from the community. Groups like the Society of Janus exist specifically to spread knowledge.

Participants interacted with healthcare professionals differently because of the fear of stigma. They hid their activities. Some even gave false information. Others delayed appointments until bruises faded, or tried to hide marks from their play.

One area of particular concern was the fear that kink would be confused for domestic violence. Health care providers are often taught that “Bruises = abuse”. This is not always the case. Women in particular were afraid of this confusion. Delays in seeking health care were commonly reported.

Those who did come out to their health care provider, and they did have good experiences. However they were also in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is well known for being an accepting place. So participants suspected their positive experiences were probably unusual.

How can health care providers do better?
Kink Pride Flag in San Francisco

Kink Pride Flag in San Francisco

Participants in the Kink Health Project brain stormed ways that the medical profession can serve their needs better. Here are some:

  • Differentiate between domestic violence and consensual activities
  • Ask open ended questions about sexual behavior
  • Individualize screenings for sexually transmitted infections and blood-bourne infections
  • Acknowledge alternate family structures, including multiple partners
  • Provide non-judgmental counseling on decreasing risks
What can a kinky patient do?

So what can a kink-oriented patient do to potentially improve their experience in health care?

  • Consider coming out to your provider. This is an incredibly individual decision, however. Only do so if you think you’ll be safe
  • If and when you come out, give that provider resources. TASHRA is probably the best resource to start with.
  • Emphasize your desire for safety and the consensual nature of your activities. A health care provider’s first concern should be your safety. They need to know that no one is truly causing you harm.
  • If you need to, ask for a referral or seek another opinion. Not all providers are going to be comfortable treating kinky patients. It is, however, their responsibility to refer you to another provider if they’re not able to provide the care you need.

And remember: You deserve to have a health care provider who treats you with respect.


Mar 062017

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) high school students are at higher risk for suicide than their heterosexual peers. The reasons are complex. The facts are simple. In the US in 2015, 29% of LGB youth report attempting suicide in the past year compared to 6% of their heterosexual peers. LGB youth also have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and non-suicidal self injury. Why? One of the main culprits is stigma.

It is still not a “good” or “normal” thing to be LGB in the United States. LGB people are very much in the minority. They are targets for discrimination and violence. All of this is part of stigma. There are different types of stigma. Structural stigma is policy, rule, and law based discrimination. Marriage inequality was one of the most talked-about forms of structural stigma.

If poor mental health outcomes like suicide attempts are partially because of stigma then we would expect changes in those mental health outcomes after a change in stigma. In other words, if marriage inequality is one way that society says “LGB is bad” and drives adolescents toward suicide, then when marriage inequality goes away adolescents should have fewer suicide attempts.

And that’s what the researchers in this week’s study looked at. They asked: Did youth suicide attempts go down after legalization of marriage equality?

The Study

The researchers looked at data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). The YRBSS is a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control every 2 years. It’s conducted in 47 of the 50 United States.Among other things, the YRBSS asks about number of suicide attempts in the past 12 months.

They looked at data from 1999-2015. 2015 is before country-wide marriage equality. So instead of looking at national data, they looked state by state. They compared suicide attempts before and after legalization in that state. They also compared suicide attempts in states that legalized and in states that did not legalize in the same year.

In addition they compared straight suicide attempts to LGB suicide attempts. Only 25 states were actually asking about sexual orientation by 2015, so this part of the study was limited.

In total there were data from roughly 760 thousand adolescents. 12.7% of students in states that asked about sexual orientation identified as LGB. 2.3% were gay/lesbian, 6.4% were bisexual, and 4% were uncertain.

8.6% of all students had attempted suicide in the past year before marriage equality. That dropped by 0.6% to 8.0% after same-sex marriage was legalized. If we extrapolate out, that’s roughly 134 thousand adolescents who did not attempt suicide after marriage equality.

For LGB students the difference was even more impressive. Out of 231 thousand adolescents, 28.5% had attempted suicide in the past year prior to legalization. After marriage equality it dropped by 4.0% to 24.5%. That’s a relative reduction of 14%.

And for the statistically nerdy folks among us, those results were statistically significant at the p = 0.05 level.

Nice data, but what does it mean?

Here’s the bottom line. There were fewer suicide attempts in all high school students after marriage equality. This was especially true among LGB youth, but the effect was seen in all youth.

There’s a very important lesson in these results. Legal policies and the message those policies convey have very real effects on health. And it’s not just as simple as policies like mandatory vaccination and the resulting drop in infectious diseases. Denying same sex couples the right to marry and all the legal protections associated with marriage sends the message that LGB people are inferior. And our youth hear that. It has very real effects on their health. It’s behooves us as a society to examine other policies like employment and school protections to see if they send the same message.

From a personal perspective, these results are not surprising. While the Defense of Marriage Act was still law, even as a teenager I was very aware of what that meant for my legal rights. I knew about, and was distressed by, the lack of hospital visitation rights and insurance coverage. As an adult the knowledge that I have the legal right to make medical decisions for my wife without question is immensely comforting. We have a long way to go on other matters, but this one small step makes a difference.

Lastly, never underestimate suicidality. If you or someone you love is in crisis, the Trevor Project is an LGBT friendly suicide hotline for youth. Adults who need assistance can find the right hotline for them here.


Feb 202017

“Brain tumor” are two words that strike fear into most hearts. They conjure images of thin patients with heads shaved and large fresh scars on their heads, of rapid neurological deterioration, and of sick children. Not all brain tumors are the same, however. Some are aggressive malignant cancer. Those are the bad actors like medullablastoma. They grow and spread quickly, and are very difficult to treat. Others are benign. These grow slowly, and either don’t spread or are very slow to spread. Benign brain tumors include meningioma, which we’re talking about today.

Meningioma is a tumor of the meninges, a thin layer that covers the brain. Meningiomas are benign. They don’t tend to metastasize (spread to other areas of the body). Instead, they grow and can grow enough that they squish parts of the brain. This causes headaches, loss of vision, and changes in thinking and mood.

Brain tumors are rare. So are meningiomas. They affect roughly 97/100,000 people. We don’t yet know exactly what causes them. But by looking are who tends to get them, we have some guesses. Exposure to radiation of the head seems to increase the risk. So does having a condition called Neurofibromatosis II. And meningiomas are more common in cisgender women than in cisgender men. Why? Because of hormones. Like breast cancer, meningioma can grow in response to estrogen or progesterone. Cis men who have been treated for prostate cancer (involving androgen deprivation therapy) are at higher risk. And perhaps trans women are too.

Today’s Paper

And that’s what brings us to today’s paper. We’ve covered meningiomas in trans women once before, but it’s time to take another look now that we have more data.

Today’s paper discusses three new cases of meningioma in trans women. In total now, 8 cases have been discussed in the medical literature. It’s a very small number, but enough to start seeing some patterns.

Of these three new cases, all were over the age of 45, were post-vaginoplasty, and were on cyproterone acetate along with an estrogen. All had surgery to remove the tumor, and they did well. The decision to continue hormone therapy was made on a case-by-case basis.

The authors noted a previous paper that found that cyproterone acetate was associated with meningioma. This was particularly true with doses above 25mg a day. Among the eight cases of meningioma in trans women in the literature, only one was not on cyproterone acetate. Doses ranged from 10mg to 100mg, with most being on 50mg or 100mg. The authors also found reports of higher rates of meningioma among people who use progesterone-like medications. Removing hormone therapy (especially cyproterone acetate) frequently helps to shrink the tumor.

What should you do with this information?

First, don’t panic about meningioma. It’s rare and benign.

There is no screening for meningioma. Instead, if you have any unusual symptoms like changes in your vision or headaches, talk with your doctor.

If you are a trans woman, consider taking the smallest dose of hormones possible. In general, high doses increase side effects and don’t help with transition. If you are diagnosed with a meningioma, have an honest conversation with your doctors about your hormone therapy.

And, of course, be sure to live as healthy a life as you can. Don’t go jumping into volcanos or nuclear power plants. Eat a balanced diet, get some exercise, avoid most drugs, and take care of yourself.


Jan 092017

Most people today know that cigarette smoking is bad for you. The mantra is drilled into children in school. Tobacco causes COPD and the vast majority of cancers, especially lung cancers. It raises the risk for heart disease. Asthma, diabetes, and osteoporosis are made worse by tobacco. And for pregnant women, tobacco causes birth defects. Children exposed to tobacco are more prone to asthma, ear infectious, and death by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. (Source)

The negative effects of cigarettes comes from the chemicals in the tobacco plant plus chemicals added by the cigarette manufacturer. It’s not all added by the manufacturer. Hand-made cigarettes, snuff, and cigars still cause disease. Unfortunately tobacco also contains nicotine. Nicotine by itself is relatively harmless, but it is highly addictive. It’s also a stimulant, giving a “high” of its own that many find temporarily helpful as they deal with the stresses of life. Physical and psychological addiction together make it very difficult to quit smoking.

A nicotine patch, one of the main aids in quitting smoking

A nicotine patch, one of the main aids in quitting smoking

Quitting is possible. No matter how many packs a smoker has smoked, their health improves when they quit. For many it can take multiple tries before they’re able to quit for good. And I’m sure you’ve seen the advertisements; there are medications and therapies out there to help those who are interested.

Because smoking is such a huge public health issue, the United States government included tobacco use in its Healthy People 2020 project. Healthy People is a set of goals to improve the health of the US population. In 2008 when the project started 20.8% of US adults smoked. They want to reduce that number to 12% by the year 2020.

Sound ambitious? Perhaps. But on November 11th, 2016 the Centers for Disease Control released new data on smoking rates in the US. This included data from 2005 to the 2015 National Health Interview Survey. So we can see the progress for ourselves!

But wait, why am I talking about smoking on a blog dedicated to gender and sexual minority healthy? Because LGBT people smoke more than our heterosexual and cisgender neighbors. And in this new report, the CDC actually included information on LGB smoking. Let’s take a look!

The Data

Good news, everyone!

Graph of the decline in smoking rate20.9% of adults in the United States smoked in 2005. By 2014, only 16.8% smoked. That fell to 15.1% by 2015! And among those who currently smoke, fewer reported smoking every day; from 80.8% of smokers being daily smokers in 2005 to 75.7% in 2015. And the number of cigarettes smoked per day dropped too; from 16.7 in 2005 to 14.2 in 2015. So not only are fewer people smoking overall, but those who are smokers are smoking less.

Unfortunately smoking is not so low in all groups. When the CDC looked at subgroups, there were some stark differences. Here are the groups who smoked the most in their analysis:

  • Individuals experiencing serious psychological distress: 40.6% vs 14% who did not
  • Those with a GED: 34.1% vs 3.6% of those with a college degree
  • Medicaid enrollees (27.8%) and people without insurance (27.4%), vs those with private insurance (11.1%) or Medicare only (8.9%). A reminder for international audiences — Medicaid is the US public health insurance for the poor. Medicare is the equivalent for those over the age of 65 or with certain health conditions
  • The poor: 26.1% vs 13.9%
  • People with disabilities: 21.5% vs 13.8%
  • Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people: 20.6% vs 14.9%. (Transgender people were not included in this analysis)
  • Men more than women: 16.7% vs 13.6%

In other words: People with poor mental health, the poor, the undereducated, the disabled, and minorities are more likely to be smokers. And lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to be smokers than their heterosexual neighbors. 1 in 5 LGB people smoke. 1 in 6 heterosexual people smoke.

Unfortunately we can’t see how the percentages have changed for LGB people. The survey in 2005 did not include sexual orientation. But even from this one snippet of data we know that LGB people are indeed at risk.

But why?

Why is there this difference in smoking rates?

The truth is that we don’t know for certain. But here are some possibilities:

  • Stress. Smoking, like other substance use, is something that many people try to use to control the stress in their lives. The brief “high” of the nicotine helps for a short time. Unfortunately it’s not the most effective long-term solution. But being part of a minority is stressful, so we’d expect to see more minorities smoking simply because of that stress.
  • Advertising. The LGBT community has been specifically targeted in some smoking advertisements.
  • Lack of targeted anti-smoking campaigns and resources
  • Lack of health insurance and access to physicians in order to access help in quitting

And likely there are many other reasons.

What can we do about smoking?
One LGBT-targeted ad to quit smoking

One LGBT-targeted ad to quit smoking

First, and most importantly, is to quit smoking yourself if you smoke. Resources specific to LGBT communities include and If you don’t smoke but a loved one does, support them in their efforts to quit.

As a community we can provide smoke-free spaces. Smoke-free bars are important, as are social events that aren’t in bars. We can choose imagery without cigarettes and remove cigarette-including glamour shots from our community spaces.

More broadly, emotional and financial support are important factors involved with smoking. As we saw, people who are emotionally struggling are more likely to be smokers. Supporting each other as a community may help, and with that help preventing smoking and quitting may become more feasible.

Lastly, vote if you can. Policy-level decisions can and do impact smoking rates! For example, raising taxes on cigarettes increases the number of people who quit in a community. And funding for quitting programs often comes from government sources. So make sure you vote (if you can)!

Want to read more on the topic? The original CDC paper is publicly available. Healthy People 2020 also has more information on smoking.