Association between sexual orientation and subjective cognitive complaints in the general population in England

Abstract

There is a scarcity of literature investigating the association between minority sexual orientations and subjective cognitive complaints (SCC). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between identifying as a sexual minority and SCC in a large sample of adults from England. The study further aimed to identify the extent to which the association could be explained by several behavioral, psychological and clinical factors. Cross-sectional data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) were analyzed. Sexual orientation was dichotomized into heterosexual and sexual minority orientation. SCC referred to subjective concentration and memory complaints. Control variables included sex, age, ethnicity, marital status, education, employment, and income. Influential factors included smoking status, alcohol dependence, perceived stress, the number of stressful life events, depression, any anxiety disorder, sleep problems, and obesity. This study included 7,400 participants (51.4% women; mean [standard deviation] age 46.3 [18.6] years). After adjusting for control variables, sexual minority orientation was positively and significantly associated with subjective concentration (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.12–1.76) but not memory complaints (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 0.96–1.47). The number of stressful life events, sleep problems and any anxiety disorder explained 13.4%, 11.0% and 10.9% of the association between sexual orientation and subjective concentration complaints, respectively. In this large sample of English adults, identifying as a sexual minority was significantly associated with subjective concentration complaints, while stressful life events, sleep problems, and anxiety explained a large proportion of the association. Targeted interventions towards sexual minority groups to reduce SCC may be warranted.