Differences in Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Health Care Among Transgender and Nontransgender Adults: Findings From the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Abstract

Little is known regarding patterns of alcohol use and alcohol-related care among transgender adults. This study examined alcohol use and alcohol-related care across transgender status in a probability sample of U.S. adults. We conducted secondary analyses of the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, focusing on adults in eight states that administered both an Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention module and a Gender Identity module (n = 58,381). Measurements included transgender status, sociodemographic characteristics, alcohol consumption (any alcohol use, risky drinking, heavy episodic drinking, and any unhealthy alcohol use), and alcohol-related care (alcohol screening during healthcare visits and advice about unhealthy alcohol use). We tested the association between transgender status and alcohol consumption and alcohol-related care using multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. Approximately 0.6% of respondents (n = 283) self-identified as transgender. Overall, there were no significant differences in alcohol consumption or screening between transgender and nontransgender adults. A greater proportion of transgender than nontransgender adults reported being advised to reduce alcohol use (20.7% vs. 7.8%, p = .012). However, this difference was not significant after adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics (adjusted odds ratio = 2.31, 95% CI [0.91, 5.86], p = .077). In this representative sample from eight U.S. states, we did not find differences related to transgender status in rates of alcohol use or of alcohol-related care.