The odds of smoking by sexual orientation in England, 2016

Summary of request

This data set contains preliminary analyses on smoking inequalities in England by sexual identity, produced in collaboration with Public Health England. Two research questions were addressed in the preliminary analyses:

1) Do lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have a higher odds, or greater likelihood, of smoking when compared to heterosexual/straight people?

2) Do the odds of smoking among LGB people change when controlling for variables known to be strongly associated with smoking prevalence including age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and housing tenure?

The analysis was conducted using 2016 data from the Annual Population Survey (APS), and was based on England.

Our results showed LGB people were more likely to be current cigarette smokers, when compared to heterosexual/straight people. The gap in smoking prevalence was more pronounced for women.

When taking into account age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and housing tenure:

• The gap in smoking prevalence between heterosexual and bisexual people closed (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 0.98-1.48).

• The gap in smoking prevalence between heterosexual and gay/lesbian people become smaller, but remained significantly different (OR= 1.38, 95% CI 1.19-1.59).

Further results by sex, and further information on the preliminary analyses can be found in the dataset.

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