Vanderbilt University Launches Study on LGBTQ+ Aging, Health Disparities

A team of researchers from Vanderbilt University has announced the first-ever longitudinal study of LGBTQ+ aging to better understand stress, resilience, and health disparities in this infrequently studied population.

The effort, known as the Vanderbilt University Social Networks, Aging, and Policy Study (VUSNAPS), is entirely comprised of LGBTQ+ people, including older LGBTQ, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming adults. According to the project’s website: “We designed VUSNAPS like this because it is important to understand how our own communities are doing and how our experiences, health, and aging may different [sic] from one another given the many identities and life trajectories within the LGBTQ+ community.”

VUSNAPS is a panel study, meaning that the same study cohorts are interviewed multiple times across their four years of participation. Participants will be interviewed in three separate waves, each focusing on different topic areas. The study is being supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging.

The first wave was focused on the impact of COVID-19 and health disparities within the community. One soon-to-be-published paper utilizing VUSNAPS data found that access to an LGBTQ+-affirming healthcare provider leads to improved management of mental health, greater participation in preventative health screenings, and lower levels of cognitive impairment among older LGBTQ+ adults.

“Having a healthcare provider that you view as LGBT-affirming actually shapes your healthcare experience,” stated Tara McKay, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, health, and society at Vanderbilt University, in the press release. “We know that this age group is hesitant to go to see a doctor. They have either personally experienced or have heard about other people’s experiences of discrimination from providers. This, on average, keeps them home longer with an illness before they seek help —making the situation worse. We were really surprised at the health improvements achieved just by having a provider that you were out to and who was affirming.”

The second wave of surveys will ask many of the same questions as the first to assess the changes participants experience over time but will also include new questions around medical care experiences, political engagement, and early life experiences. This data will be used to study LGBTQ+ social networks and other topics, including the effects of discrimination on sleep quality and political engagement and activism later in life, according to the press release.

All information gathered from VUSNAPS will eventually be publicly available via a database for other researchers to access and use in their work. According to the press release, VUSNAPS is unique in that it represents older people and revisits the same population multiple times, whereas most current LGBTQ+ research only surveys people once and focuses on younger people.

The study also aims to provide unique insight into the social networks of LGBTQ+ people, which can be significantly different from those in the heterosexual community. LGBTQ+ people tend to have fewer family members but more friends in their network, according to the press release. Thus, this community has different concerns as they get older and need support.

“There’s almost no information on aging in this community,” McKay noted. “This knowledge is important because we know there are actually a lot of health disparities at an earlier age, but we need to see what happens to those disparities over time, in multiple dimensions. Do they compound, or do people find a way to thrive anyway? How are people responding to some of these issues in their lives? How do they cope with them and build a life? That’s what we’re looking at here.”