Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-9-2020

Publication Title

PLoS ONE

Volume

15

Issue

10

First page number:

1

Last page number:

16

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the health of intersex adults (people with differences of sex development) in the U.S. using community-based research methods. Methods: In July–September 2018, we conducted a national health study of intersex adults aged 18 and older in the U.S., using a survey hosted on Qualtrics. The study describes the physical and mental health experiences of intersex adults, including differences by age (18 to 39 vs. 40 and older). Questions were derived from national (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System) and intersex-related health studies. Results: A non-probability sample of 198 intersex adults completed the survey over three months. Over 43% of participants rated their physical health as fair/poor and 53% reported fair/poor mental health. Prevalent health diagnoses included depression, anxiety, arthritis, and hypertension, with significant differences by age. Nearly a third reported difficulty with everyday tasks and over half reported serious difficulties with cognitive tasks. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first national study of intersex adults in the U.S. Greater understanding of intersex health over the life course is essential. Findings highlight the need for longitudinal studies and further examination of potential health disparities experienced by intersex populations.

Disciplines

Psychiatric and Mental Health | Public Health

File Format

pdf

File Size

466 KB

Language

English

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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