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A Call to Action to Improve the Completeness of Older Adult Sexual and Gender Minority Data in Electronic Health Records

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults experience greater health disparities compared to non-SGM older adults. The SGM older adult population is growing rapidly. To address this disparity and gain a better understanding of their unique challenges in healthcare relies on accurate data collection. We conducted a secondary data analysis of 2018–2022 electronic health record data for older adults aged ≥50 years, in 1 large academic health system to determine the source, magnitude, and correlates of missing sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data among hospitalized older adults. Among 153 827 older adults discharged from the hospital, SOGI data missingness was 67.6% for sexual orientation and 63.0% for gender identity. SOGI data are underreported, leading to bias findings when studying health disparities. Without complete SOGI data, healthcare systems will not fully understand the unique needs of SGM individuals and develop tailored interventions and programs to reduce health disparities among these populations.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocad130

APA Citation

May, J. T., Myers, J., Noonan, D., McConnell, E., & Cary, M. P. (2023). A call to action to improve the completeness of older adult sexual and gender minority data in electronic health records. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA, 30(10), 1725–1729.https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocad130

Rights

© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

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