Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors, Intersectional Minority Stressors, and Self-Reported Cardiovascular Disease Among Sexual and Gender Minority People of Color: An Exploratory Latent Class Analysis

Purpose: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a significant cause of death, with health conditions and lifestyle behaviors playing essential roles. We sought to explore CVD risk classes, their associations with self-reported CVD, and differences among classes as a function of intersectional minority stressors (IMS) among sexual and gender minority people of color (SGM POC). Methods: A sample of 232 SGM POC (mean age = 33.50 ± 9.77) completed an online survey in 2020 assessing CVD risk indicators and specific IMS, measured using the LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale subscales. Latent class analyses were conducted to identify CVD risk classes, followed by logistic regressions to examine associations between classes and self-reported CVD, classes and IMS on self-reported CVD, and interactions between the classes and IMS on self-reported CVD. Results: Three classes emerged: a low-risk class with low probabilities for all indicators, a lifestyle-risk class with high probabilities for smoking, alcohol use, and substance use, and a high-risk class with greater probabilities for most CVD indicators. Significant interactions showed that increased LGBT racism was associated with a lower likelihood of self-reported CVD ( b = −0.40, standard error SE = 0.19, adjusted odds ratio aOR = 0.67, p = 0.036) whereas greater heterosexism within communities of color ( b = 0.57, SE = 0.22, aOR = 1.77, p = 0.008) was associated with a higher likelihood of self-reported CVD in the high-risk compared with the low-risk class. Conclusion: These exploratory findings support the existence of three distinct CVD risk classes among SGM POC and highlight that specific IMS moderate CVD risk for SGM POC.