The American Lung Association released a new report last week regarding tobacco use and control within the LGBT community.
The smoking rate within the LGBT community is about double that of the general population, which disproportionately puts LGBT people at greatly increased risk for some of the deadliest lung diseases, like lung cancer, as well as other tobacco and smoking-related health threats like heart attacks and strokes.
Although for a long time we have had enough information showing that LGBT people should be a priority for tobacco control even among other disproportionately affected groups, we are still in need of more substantial data on this subject. For a variety of reasons, the research community has traditionally left questions about sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression out of surveys, and projects that have tried to include the information differ tremendously in how they define those characteristics and attempt to collect them.
The American Lung Association, however, has created this report as one in several in the Disparities in Lung Health Series, which takes an in-depth look at the needs of different populations that, for a variety of reasons, have unequal risk for lung disease.
This report is meant to raise awareness, and to encourage action toward a better understanding of the causes of elevated tobacco use among LGBT people, and to find effective solutions to this health threat to our community.
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