The Pittsburgh Girls Study
HEArT
Compared to heterosexual women, lesbian/gay and bisexual (LGB) women report higher rates of physical health problems. Current evidence, which is largely based on self-report, suggests that important health disparities exist in conditions with high rates of morbidity and mortality (e.g., diabetes, heart disease). Moreover, disparities in health are thought to be due in part to chronic exposure to discrimination stress, which alters many biological systems critical for maintaining health. In no single study to date have differences in objective measures of health risks and patterns stress reactivity between LGB and heterosexual women been tested.
The aims of the PGS-Health, Emotions, and Adaptation over Time (HEArT) study are to investigate health disparities using rigorous objective biomarkers of health (e.g., biomarkers of cardiometabolic function and measures of systemic inflammation) in young adulthood in a sub sample of young women who are participating in the Pittsburgh Girls Study and who either self-report as heterosexual or LGB. This substudy links information on stress exposure (e.g., discrimination stress and adversity) collected across childhood and adolescence and reactivity to a laboratory stressor to early adult health to better understand the role of stress in the association between sexual minority status and health. We also collect information from interviews and questionanires that will allow us to test whether health promotion during adolescence attenuates the association between discrimination stress and health risks among LGB women.
Participants in the HEArT Study are a subsample of PGS participants who identify as heterosexual or lesbian/gay or bisexual. Our goal is to recruit 440 women who complete a single visit to the laboratory and a single blood draw collected in the home.
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The PGS-HEArT Study is funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) R01 HL137246.