The Health of Sexual and Gender Minority People with Disabilities: A Systematic Scoping Review

Background In 2023 the NIH designated people with disabilities as a population experiencing health disparities, adding to a list that included sexual and gender minority (SGM) people. Health disparities of each group have been documented, but studies exploring their intersection are limited. Objective The objective of this systematic scoping review is to characterize current research on SGM people with disabilities in the United States, including outcomes investigated, research methodology, data sources, and methods by which researchers define and measure SGM identity and disability. Methods Eligible studies were published in English from 2014–2024 and examined the health outcomes of SGM people with disabilities in the United States. Searches of peer-reviewed literature from 3 databases (PubMed, CINHAL, and Embase) were uploaded into Covidence and screened for relevance; data from each included study were extracted for review.0 Results The final review database included 31 studies. Most were quantitative, used a national sample, and focused on structural or mental health outcomes. The ways in which disability and SGM identity were measured varied across studies, complicating efforts to draw broad conclusions. Still, studies consistently showed that those at the intersection of SGM identity and disability were more affected by violence and discrimination than either population alone. Further, gender minority people with disabilities and sexual minority women of color with disabilities had worse structural outcomes. Conclusions Future research should explore how the type and visibility of disability, specific subgroups of SGM populations, and other characteristics influence health outcomes, especially how they are influenced by stigma and discrimination.