TABLE 1—

Demographic Characteristics and Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Female NHANES Participants From 2001 to 2008 by Sexual Minority Status: United States

Variable	Heterosexual Women (n = 5356), % or Mean (SE)	Sexual Minority Womena (n = 437), % or Mean (SE)	P
Demographic characteristics
Age, y			<.001
20–29	36.2	49.2
30–39	27.2	27.4
40–49	27.3	18.2
50–59	9.4	5.3
Race			.13
Non-Hispanic White	69.8	73.4
Non-Hispanic Black	12.0	13.2
Mexican American	8.0	5.1
Other Hispanic	4.9	3.5
Other (including multiracial)	5.3	4.8
Education			.23
< high school	13.7	15.5
High school	22.7	20.0
Some college	34.7	39.5
≥ college graduate	28.8	25.0
Annual household income, $			.15
< 25 000	25.6	32.1
25 000–34 999	13.8	14.9
35 000–44 999	12.6	11.6
45 000–54 999	13.0	12.3
≥ 55 000	35.0	29.1
CVD risk factors
Smoking status			<.001
Smoker	22.7	38.0
Former smoker	17.7	26.4
Nonsmoker	59.6	35.6
Diabetes: yes	5.3	6.4
Antihypertensive medication: yes	14.7	11.6
Family history of CVD: yes	8.7	12.2
Body mass index, kg/m2	28.3 (0.18)	29.1 (0.54)	.18
BMI category			.29
Normal/underweight (< 25 kg/m2)	55.2	51.5
Overweight (25–29.9 kg/m2)	19.1	18.5
Obese (≥ 30 kg/m2)	25.7	30.0
Total cholesterol, mg/dL	198.5 (0.80)	192.0 (2.50)	.01
HDL cholesterol, mg/dL	58.3 (0.37)	57.0 (0.99)	.2
Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg	116.1 (0.30)	115.5 (0.85)	.47
History of drug use (excluding marijuana): yes	28.1	46.4
Alcohol useb			<.001
Risky drinker	23.7	46.9
Social drinker	62.6	47.2
Infrequent drinker	13.7	5.8

Note. BMI = body mass index; CVD = cardiovascular disease; NHANES = National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

^aIncluded women who identified as “lesbian,” “bisexual,” or “something else” and straight-identified women with at least 1 lifetime same-sex sexual partner.

^bBased on the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria for risky drinking.²⁵