Study: Philly LGBT smoking rates lower than other areas of state

Tobacco usage emerged as an unexpected health disparity for LGBT people in Pennsylvania, according to results from a study led by the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown.

Executive director Adrian Shanker coordinated the research with LGBT centers across the state for over a year. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, it’s the first statewide data collection on LGBT health.

The William Way LGBT Community Center in the Gayborhood administered the survey to 1,218 people in Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties. Results were released at the end of August. More than 600 people from the Lehigh Valley and Central Pennsylvania completed surveys last year.  

All reported smoking at higher rates than the general population, 24 percent of which said they smoked. But the more rural the area LGBT people lived in, the more likely they were to smoke.

In the Philadelphia region, 34.3 percent of LGBT people reported smoking. That number is 37 percent in the Lehigh Valley and 43 percent in Central Pennsylvania. Isolating the transgender community, it approaches half the population in each region.

“One thing that Philadelphia has going for it is you have smoke-free bars, whereas in the rest of the state, we have smoky bars,” Shanker said.

He added the study was designed to compensate for that effect.

“Historically, a lot of LGBT data collection has been done at the bars. We intentionally didn’t do that.

“There needs to be some LGBT-specific awareness campaign around tobacco cessation,” Shanker said.

People can view full study results from the Philadelphia region by visiting William Way, 1315 Spruce St.

“It’s important for us to work with our partners to address the health disparities for LGBT people in our region,” said executive director Chris Bartlett.

The William Way is in talks with organizations — including COLOURS, The Attic Youth Center, City of Brotherly Love Softball League, the LGBT Elder Initiative, the Mazzoni Center, Stonewall Sports, LGBTea Dances and the city Department of Public Health — to determine what initiatives they may want to launch to increase awareness for healthy choices like not smoking.

Bartlett said Philadelphia respondents noted it was important to them to be able to access LGBT-affirming health services in the area. 

Shanker plans to present the survey data from each region to local health and LGBT organizations and tobacco-cessation programs.

“Lack of LGBT data has been a challenge for us,” he said. “When we don’t have the data, we don’t know the path forward. The Department of Health will have this data to make evidence-based decisions.”

Shanker has also coordinated data collections in Northeastern, Southwestern and Northwestern Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh region. Results are expected to be finalized by the end of the month.

Similar LGBT health disparities emerged in each region, he said. In addition to tobacco usage, many LGBT people did not meet screening recommendations, largely due to fear of a bad experience with a health professional. Transgender people with cervixes reported not getting regular Pap smears and transgender people with prostates did not receive regular exams. 

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