CDC Report: Gays More Likely to Smoke, Drink Than Heterosexuals
Study Also Finds Cocaine Use Is Four Times Higher Among Gay Youth
A recently released study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that homosexuals are more likely to drink and smoke than their heterosexual peers.
The CDC released the results of the 2013 National Health Interview Survey on Tuesday, with findings focused on comparing health differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals.
Among individuals over the age of 18, it was found that 26 percent of gays currently smoked versus 18 percent of straights.
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When asked whether they had had "five or more alcoholic drinks in one day at least once in the past year," 33 percent of gay respondents said yes versus 22 percent of straight respondents.
"With (gay) youth, cociane use is four times as much; binge drinking and weightloss behaviors such as vomiting and laxative use is significantly higher," Dr. Charles Gonzalez told KMIR News.
The CDC's findings bear similarity to the results of a University College London study published last August on the young homosexual population of England.
According to the UCL, gay English teenagers were more likely to smoke and to consume alcoholic drinks than heterosexuals of the same age.
"Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are twice as likely to have smoked than their heterosexual peers, according to new research," noted the summary.
"Lesbian and gay young people were also more likely to drink alcohol frequently and more hazardously."
Other findings in the recently released results of the CDC report noted that fewer than three percent of Americans identify themselves as gay.
"The overwhelming majority of adults, 96.6 percent, labeled themselves as straight in the 2013 survey. An additional 1.1 percent declined to answer, responded 'I don't know the answer' or said they were 'something else,'" reported The Washington Post.
"The figures offered a slightly smaller assessment of the size of the gay, lesbian and bisexual population than other surveys, which have pegged the overall proportion at closer to 3.5 or 4 percent."
Not all of the statistics from the National Health Interview Survey were negative for the LGBT community, as reported by Randy Dotinga WebMD News.
"Overall, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were more likely than their straight peers to participate in regular exercise," wrote Dotinga. However, the report also shows that lesbians have higher rates of obeseity and diabetes.
"And gay men were less obese than heterosexual men, the findings showed. They were also more likely to get flu vaccines than straight men, according to the federal report."
