Are gay men more at risk for cancer?

NEW YORK- more gay men reported being survivors of cancer than men to right in a new study of California.

Can be therefore think they may require targeted interventions to prevent cancer, researchers said, but more studies are needed to respond to questions lingering. For example, gay men are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer as men in right? Or, they are simply more likely to survive if they do not get cancer?

"A lack of hard data" on the way in which sexual orientation affects the risk of cancer is "one of the biggest problems we have", said Liz Margolies, Executive Director of the National of LGBT Cancer network. Margolies, who was not involved in the research, has told Reuters Health, "it is essential as we know as for funding and planning of the program.".

As a step to remedy the lack of data, researchers studied three years of responses to the survey on the California Health Interview, which included more than 120 000 adults living in the State.

Among the other issues related to health, participants have been invited if they had never been diagnosed cancer and they have identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or linear.

The results are published in the journal Cancer.

Approximately 3,700 51 000 men, said that they had been diagnosed cancer in adulthood. While just over 8% of gay men reported a history of cancer, this figure was only 5 per cent among men in right. The disparity could be attributed to differences in race, age or income between gay and heterosexual.

Approximately 7 300 71 000 women in the study had been diagnosed cancer, but overall cancer rates differ not in lesbian, bisexual and straight women.

However, women who have survived cancer, bisexual and lesbian women were more likely to report fair or poor health than straight women.

Ulrike Boehmer, senior author of the study of the Boston University School of Public Health, said the higher rates of human immunodeficiency (HIV) virus can be linked to the increase in the risk of cancer among gay men, but the study could not specifically address this issue.

Margolies think it is more current. "Homosexual men as a group have a lot of risk factors for cancer," she said.

For example, gay men and lesbians are more likely to smoke and the abuse of alcohol and women and men of right. They are also more likely to avoid to go see their doctor for routine physical parameters or cancer screening, added Margolies - given that health care providers may not all be tolerant and was able to accept their identity.

"I think we are going to get people to have early detection or see the doctors except in emergencies... until they can be guaranteed a safe and welcoming experience" at the doctor's Office, she said.

Margolies said that even if the new discoveries are "very important", it warns on their generalization too far beyond individual study. This is partially because she suspected lesbian women may be also an increased risk of cancer compared to straight women, because they have the same factors of risk than gay men.

But Margolies and Boehmer agree that it is still an important message to remove the findings: Gay, Lesbian and bisexual people need more attention to the health care community, specifically with regard to the risk of cancer.

"Gay men because more report as cancer survivors, we must before any programs for gay men who focus on the prevention of cancer and early detection of cancer," Boehmer said Reuters Health in an e-mail.

And "because more women lesbian and bisexual and heterosexual women with cancer report that they are in poor health, we must first of all programs and services that improve the well-being of Lesbian and bisexual cancer survivors,", she added.

"Health care institutions and social organizations - any organization that meets the needs of cancer survivors - must understand the additional challenges that lesbian and gay and bisexual cancer survivors have," concluded the Margolies.