Study highlights medical, health care challenges faced by African American lesbian or bisexual women

More than one third of African American lesbian or bisexual women reported a negative experience with a heathcare provider and many of those women did not seek medical care the next time they were ill, according to a study published in LGBT Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article, part of a Special Issue on Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Health, is available free on the LGBT Health website.

Chien-Ching Li, PhD and coauthors, Rush University and University of Illinois, Chicago, examined factors predictive of a negative healthcare experience among lesbian and bisexual minority women, including discrimination based on race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Who might be at risk of a negative experience and how that could impact health care utilization and future health outcomes is explored in the article "Predictors and Consequences of Negative Patient-Provider Interactions Among a Sample of African American Sexual Minority Women."

Also in this special issue, the article "Female Couples Undergoing IVF with Partner Eggs (Co-IVF): Pathways to Parenthood" presents the descriptive data, realistic expectations, and recommendations related to female couples who both want to participate in a shared pregnancy. Arielle Yeshua and coauthors, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York and The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report a 76% success rate in achieving pregnancy in their experience with female couples pursuing co-in vitro fertilization, in which one partner provides the egg and the other carries the developing fetus.

Patricia A. Robertson, MD and Suzanne L. Dibble, PhD, RN, University of California, San Francisco, served as Guest Editors of this first special issue on lesbian and bisexual women's health. "Lesbians are an underserved medical community," they state, "and the research in lesbian health has been scarce and rarely funded, but now we are starting to see promising new developments in the engagement of researchers and funders."

"Each sexual orientation and gender identity minority population has a unique profile of healthcare needs and experiences unique barriers to health care," says LGBT Health Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, James J Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. "The guest editors of this special edition have done a superb job of putting together a collection of articles that sheds light on these issues in lesbian and bisexual women and contributes to the evidence base needed for the realization of their health equality."