Disparities by Sexual Orientation Persist for Major Depressive Episode and Substance Abuse or Dependence: Findings from a National Probability Study of Adults in the United States

Purpose: This study updates psychiatric epidemiological research by providing recent prevalence estimates of major depression and alcohol and illicit drug abuse or dependence among sexual minority (SM) adults. Methods: Using the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we estimated prevalence differences between SM and heterosexual adults, and within SM subgroups, with logistic regression models. Results: Bisexual adults faced an increased burden across all outcomes compared with other SM adults. Gay males had the highest prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug abuse or dependence. Conclusions: Future research must consider sex differences within SM subgroups for development of targeted interventions.