Aging is a major risk factor for the majority of chronic diseases, which include diseases like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and arthritis.More than halfof older adults in the US havethree or more慢性疾病。患有多种慢性疾病可以增加残疾，住院和死亡的机会。

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults are an under-served population that experience health disparities often related to a lifetime of stressors such as stigma, discrimination, and oppression. As such, this is a population with many barriers to receiving patient-centered health care. With aging, middle-aged and older LGB adults are therefore likely to be at risk not only for medical diseases, but also other chronic conditions.

We found that gay men and bisexual women in particular, were at high risk for having two or more conditions.

To examine chronic diseases in this population, we used data from the US国家药物使用和健康调查to determine the extent of three chronic conditions: mental illness, unhealthy substance use, and having two or more medical diseases. We then looked at the presence of having more than one of these conditions among LGB adults age 50 and older. We found that gay men and bisexual women in particular, were at high risk for having two or more conditions.

这些结果突出了该人群的复杂健康需求。重要的是要认识到，尽管医疗和公共卫生干预措施通常集中在一种情况下，但这通常不适合多种慢性疾病的老年人。需要采用以患者为中心的方法，以考虑如何与其他共存疾病相互关联。例如，不健康的药物使用和精神疾病会使治疗慢性医疗疾病的治疗变得复杂，并导致健康结果较差。

The care of older adults, especially for communities that are under-served, such as sexual minority populations, needs to involve patient-centered care that considers all chronic diseases and how they may be related. For older LGB adults we also need a greater awareness of all possible forms of stigma related to people such as older individuals and those of sexual minority status, and we must understand how this may impact health.

The goal of our research is to not further stigmatize but to draw attention to the needs of older adults from communities who have been neglected and under-served so that they can receive better care through improved awareness of the multiple factors that affect health and well-being.