Citation

Meyer IH, Brown TN, Herman JL, Reisner SL, Bockting WO. Am. J. Public Health 2017; 107(4): 582-589.

Affiliation

Ilan H. Meyer, Taylor N. T. Brown, and Jody L. Herman are with the Williams Institute, School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles. Sari L. Reisner is with the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Epidemiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA. Walter O. Bockting is with the Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and the School of Nursing, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2016.303648

PMID

28207334

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe the health status of the transgender population in the United States.

METHODS: We used 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data that comprised a probability sample from 19 US states and Guam (n = 151 456).

RESULTS: Bivariate analyses showed that, in comparison with cisgender individuals, transgender individuals had a higher prevalence of poor general health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2, 2.4), more days per month of poor physical (b = 2.43; 95% CI = 0.61, 4.24; P < .01) and mental (b = 1.74; 95% CI = 0.28, 3.19; P = .02) health, and a higher prevalence of myocardial infarction (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.1, 2.5). In addition, more transgender than cisgender people lacked health care coverage (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.2, 2.7) and a health care provider (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.0, 2.1), and they were less likely to have visited a dentist in the preceding year (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.5, 1.0). However, transgender individuals did not differ from cisgender individuals with respect to prevalence of chronic diseases, cancers, or depressive disorders or in terms of health behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, and always wearing a seatbelt.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight areas of unmet needs in the transgender population. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print February 16, 2017: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303648).

Language: en