RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Health Care Discrimination and Care Avoidance Due to Patient-Clinician Identity Discordance Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 329
OP 332
DO 10.1370/afm.3130
VO 22
IS 4
A1 Liu, Michael
A1 Patel, Vishal R.
A1 Sandhu, Sahil
A1 Reisner, Sari
A1 Keuroghlian, Alex S.
YR 2024
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/22/4/329.abstract
AB Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults experience poor health outcomes, in part due to frequent avoidance of necessary health care. Little is known, however, about factors contributing to patterns of health care utilization in this population. Using national data from the All of Us Research Program, this study evaluated the prevalence of care avoidance due to patient-clinician identity discordance (PCID) and its association with health care discrimination among SGM adults. Sexual minority (20.0% vs 9.4%; adjusted rate ratio [aRR] = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.49-1.67, P <0.001) and gender minority adults (34.4% vs 10.3%; aRR = 2.00; 95% CI, 1.79-2.21, P <0.001) were significantly more likely than their non-SGM counterparts to report care avoidance due to PCID. Exposure to health care discrimination was also more prevalent in this population and was dose-dependently associated with significantly higher rates of PCID-based care avoidance. Study findings highlight the importance of diversifying the health care workforce, expanding SGM-related clinical training, and preventing health care discrimination against SGM patients.