MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who are lesbians may be at greater risk of becoming overweight or obese than women with other sexual orientations, according to a report in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Ulrike Boehmer, Ph.D., of Boston University in Boston, Mass., and colleagues used data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to compare population estimates of overweight and obesity among women of different sexual orientations. The survey included 5,979 women between the ages of 15 and 44 years. Pregnant women were excluded.
The investigators found that the odds ratios were 2.69 for overweight and 2.47 for obesity in lesbian women compared to heterosexual women. Overweight and obesity were not significantly different in bisexual women and those reporting their sexual orientation as "something else."
"This finding suggests that lesbians are at greater risk for morbidity and mortality linked to overweight and obesity," the authors write. "This finding also highlights the need for interventions within this population."
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