Associations between interpersonal violence and cancer risk factors for transgender and cisgender people.

Abstract

6516 Background: Cancer risk factors for transgender people are largely unexplored. Extreme rates of interpersonal violence experienced by transgender people may increase the risk of cancer. The associations between exposure to interpersonal violence and cancer risk factors have not been investigated. Methods: We searched for experiences of violence in cohorts of 923 transgender and 1846 cisgender people matched by age, follow-up time, and year of the first encounter and measured the association between these experiences and smoking as well as BMI ≥ 40. We then estimated the prevalence ratios for these risk factors using robust Poisson regression models including gender identity, violence, and their interaction, adjusted for age and follow-up time. Results: Transgender people experienced more violence than cisgender people. Among transgender people, there were significantly higher rates of smoking among those who had experienced any type of violence (50% vs 35%, p<.0001) and borderline significantly higher rates of BMI ≥ 40 (23% vs 18%, p=.05). Among cisgender people, significantly higher rates of smoking in those who had experienced violence (52% vs 31%, p<.0001) and significantly higher rates of BMI ≥ 40 (23% vs 11%, p<0.001) were also demonstrated. No statistically significant difference was demonstrated in the association between violence and smoking in transgender compared with cisgender people (prevalence ratio (PR).87, p=.17). A statistically significant difference was demonstrated in the association between violence and BMI ≥ 40 in transgender compared to cisgender people (PR.65, p=.02). Conclusions: Given the association between violence and cancer risk factors, eliminating violence is of profound concern to the oncology community. Violence across the life course is markedly higher in transgender versus cisgender people. Interventions are urgently needed to eliminate violence. Cancer prevention research should investigate the efficacy of methodologies known to impact interpersonal violence, including those modifying structural factors to decrease socioeconomic disparities, stigma, and oppression. [Table: see text]