BMC Public Health 2006, 6:127 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/6/127 men consented to access to their clinical records [16]. Twenty women (2.6%) and 13 (4.2%) men did not answer the question on sexual orientation while 85 (8%) women and 23 (5%) men were classified as bisexual and 38 (9%) men and 26 (3%) women as gay or lesbian (tables 1, 2). White male participants were more likely to be classified as gay and white female participants were more likely to be classified as bisexual while those classi- fied as lesbian and gay were most likely to be cohabiting. Men and women classified as bisexual were more sexually active than those classified as gay or heterosexual. Associations between health, sex and sexual orientation There were significant differences between the men classi- fied as gay, bisexual and heterosexual on: mental health problems based on the GHQ-12; having more than one sexual partner in the previous month; reporting sexual experiences in childhood and satisfaction with their sex lives (table 3). Significant differences were observed between women classified as lesbian, bisexual and heter- osexual on: current smoking; alcohol misuse based on Table 1: Demographic details and sexual activity of men CAGE scores; having more than one sexual partner in the previous month and having had sexual experiences in childhood (table 4). There were no differences in consul- tation rates between the sexual orientation groups for the 71% of people who allowed us access to their records. Independent factors associated with health and well-being After adjustment for civil and ethnic status, men classified as bisexual were more likely than those classified as heter- osexual to be current smokers (OR 2.48), to report having had more than one sexual partner in the last four weeks (OR 5.0) and to be dissatisfied with their sex lives (OR 2.74) (table 3). Men classified as gay were more likely than those classified as heterosexual (OR 2.52) to score above the threshold of the general health questionnaire indicating current psychological distress and to report sex- ual experiences in childhood (OR 4.86) (table 3). Women classified as bisexual (OR 2.53) and lesbian (OR 3.13) were more likely to be current smokers than those classi- fied as heterosexual (table 4). Women classified as bisex- ual were significantly more likely than those classified as Heterosexual classified N = 373 Bisexual classified N = 23 Gay classified N = 38 37.1 (12.0) 35.9 (12.3) Age – Mean(SD)M = 6 Ethnic statusM = 6 White# Black South Asian Others OccupationM = 6 Full/part time work Civil StatusM = 6 Married Co-habiting Sexual activity (at least once/last month) Masturbation* M = 6 Oral SexM = 3 Sex Intercourse** M = 5 No. of partnersM = 1 None One 2–10*** M = Number of non responders N = column percent, *p = 0.018,**p = 0.0005, ***p = 0.002 # white versus non-white p = 0.011 35.9 (12.3) 268 (72.6) 77 (20.9) 8 (2.2) 16 (4.4) 252 (68.3) 107 (28.7) 85 (22.8) 225 (61.1) 193 (52.0) 263 (71.3) 102 (27.4) 243 (65.3) 27 (7.3) 19 (82.6) 1 (4.4) 2 (8.7) 1 (4.4) 14 (60.9) 7 (30.4) 6 (26.1) 19 (82.6) 13 (56.5) 18 (78.3) 5 (21.7) 12 (52.2) 6 (26.1) 34 (94.4) 2 (5.6) 0 0 28 (77.8) 1 (2.6) 12 (31.6) 29 (78.4) 21 (56.8) 13 (35.1) 12 (31.6) 18 (47.4) 8 (21.1) Page 4 of 12 (page number not for citation purposes)