Sexual Minorities Face Higher Risk for Suicide-Related Behaviors

THURSDAY, June 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Gay/lesbian and bisexual individuals are at heightened risk of suicide-related behavior events, according to a study published online June 7 in the The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Antony Chum, Ph.D., from York University in Toronto, and colleagues quantified suicide-related behavior leading to acute care or deaths across self-identified heterosexual, gay/lesbian, and bisexual individuals in Ontario, Canada. Analysis included survey results for 123,995 people that were linked to health administrative data (2002 to 2019).

The researchers found that the crude incidence rates of suicide-related behavior events were 224.7 per 100,000 person-years for heterosexuals, 664.7 for gay/lesbian individuals, and 5,911.9 for bisexual individuals. Bisexual individuals were 2.98 times more likely to have an event in adjusted analysis, while gay men and lesbians were 2.10 times more likely versus heterosexual individuals.

"Increased education among psychiatric professionals is needed to improve awareness of and sensitivity to the elevated risk of suicide-related behavior among sexual minority individuals, and further research on interventions is needed to reduce such behaviors," the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text