A recent study found that #bisexual #women are over three times more likely, and #gay #men and #women twice as likely, to attempt #suicide compared to #heterosexual individuals. The research, based on survey data linked with health records for 123,000 people, emphasized a pressing need for improved #mentalhealthsupport within the #LGBTQ+ community.

A recent study conducted by researchers at York University and ICES revealed that bisexual women are over three times more likely to attempt suicide than their #heterosexual counterparts.

This groundbreaking research, which connects data from population-based surveys with health records of more than 123,000 individuals, also discovered that suicide-related behavior (SRB) events, both fatal and non-fatal, are twice as likely among gay men and #lesbians compared to heterosexual individuals. These findings underscore the critical need for improved #mentalhealthsupport within the #LGBTQ+ community.

“We wanted to better characterize the disparity in #suicide-related #behaviors across #sexualorientations and #gender,” says lead author Antony Chum, a Faculty of Health assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in Population Health Data Science at York University and adjunct scientist at ICES. “Prior research on #suicideattempts has mostly relied on self-reported data from surveys, which means we don’t have information on people who are too sick to participate or have died by #suicide.”

#James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleFind out more about the work I do on my 501c3 non-profit foundationwebsite www.yourgiftoflife.org Order your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife: From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy

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Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study looked at Ontario participants from the Canadian Community Health Survey, which was linked to anonymous administrative health data such as emergency room visits or hospitalizations for non-fatal #self-harm and fatal #suicide events between 2002 and 2019.

The researchers, who include York University postdoctoral fellows Gabriel John Dusing and Chungah Kim, found:

- The overall prevalence of one or more SRB events was around two percent in heterosexual individuals, five percent in gay/lesbian individuals, and eight percent in bisexual individuals.

- Sexual minority individuals were at higher risk of SRB events, ranging from 2.10 to 4.23 times more likely when compared to heterosexual people.

- After adjusting for age and #gender, the risk of a SRB event was more than three times greater among bisexual individuals, and this risk was most pronounced for bisexual women.

“The higher risk for bisexual women could be attributed to greater discrimination that bisexual people face within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as higher rates of violence, #trauma, and caregiving burden that bisexual women may experience in opposite-sex relationships,” says Chum.

One limitation of the study is that data were not available for non-binary individuals and sexual orientations such as asexual and #queer. Nevertheless, this was the first study to use a large representative sample linked with medical records, which improves the generalizability of the findings for other regions and populations.

“The study shows a clear need for better funding, policy, and programming to address LGBTQ+ suicide risk,” says Chum. “We also need increased training for healthcare workers to address LGBTQ+ suicide risk. Further, we want to encourage hospitals and clinics to collect #sexualorientation data as part of routine #patient care.”

Chum also notes the increasing creep of healthcare privatization and that publicly funded #mentalhealth supports need to be increased not just for LGBTQ+ people, but across the board.

Reference: “Disparities in Suicide-Related Behaviors Across Sexual Orientations by Gender: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using Linked Health Administrative Data” by Antony Chum, Ph.D., Chungah Kim, Ph.D., Andrew Nielsen, M.Sc., Gabriel John Dusing, Ph.D., Patricia O’Campo, Ph.D., Flora I. Matheson, Ph.D., Lucy Barker, M.D., Simone Vigod, M.D., Vicki Ling, M.Sc., Kinwah Fung, M.Sc. and Sidney Kennedy, M.D., 7 June 2023, American Journal of Psychiatry.DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20220763

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