SynthesisEating and weight disorders : EWD2021
Sexual orientation and disordered eating in women: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Eating and weight disorders : EWD, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of minority stress in disordered eating: a systematic review of the literature.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of sociodemographic reporting and representation in eating disorder psychotherapy treatment trials in the United States.The International journal of eating disorders · 2022Pooled it
- Seeing clearly: why gender and sexual diversity must remain in eating disorder science.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Review
- Validation of the Brief Assessment of Stress and Eating (BASE) in cisgender gay men and lesbian women.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Sexual orientation and prevalence of disordered eating among young adults: Intersections with race, ethnicity, and gender.Eating behaviors · 2025Article
- Real-world patient outcomes for telehealth-delivered, remote eating disorder treatment: a scoping review.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Review
- Can Support for Homosexuality Reduce the Prevalence of Mental Health Problems among LGBTQIranian journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Investigating Eating Symptoms in the LGBTQIA+ Population: Do Discrimination and Adverse Conditions Matter?The International journal of social psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring Biases of Large Language Models in the Field of Mental Health: Comparative Questionnaire Study of the Effect of Gender and Sexual Orientation in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Case Vignettes.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Article
- Are affective states associated with disordered eating behaviors in the daily lives of sexual minority and heterosexual young women?: an ecological momentary assessment study.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Article
- Sexual Functioning and Eating Disorder Symptoms: Examining the Role of Gender and Internalizing Symptoms in an Undergraduate Population.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2025Article
- Disordered eating in sexual and gender minority adults: the roles of gender variance, appearance anxiety, and internalized ideals.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Gender and sex in eating disorders: A narrative review of the current state of knowledge, research gaps, and recommendations.Brain and behavior · 2023Review
- Being in a queer time: Exploring the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTQ+ body image.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2022Article
- Differences in Dietary Quality by Sexual Orientation and Sex in the United States: NHANES 2011-2016.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2022Article
- Sexual attraction to men as a risk factor for eating disorders: the role of mating expectancies and drive for thinness.Journal of eating disorders · 2022Article
- Diet, Food Insecurity, and CVD Risk in Sexual and Gender Minority Adults.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2022Review
- Examining the associations of sexual minority stressors and past-year depression with overeating and binge eating in a diverse community sample of sexual minority women.Eating behaviors · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeHomosexuality is a clear risk factor for disordered eating in men; however, for women, research has yielded contradictory results. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association between sexual orientation and disordered eating in women.
methodsPRISMA guidelines were used. Studies comparing disordered eating between lesbians and heterosexual women were identified using PsycNet database and Google Scholar. Twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria. Overall disordered eating, restricting, binging and purging were examined for heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual and 'mostly heterosexual' women.
resultsWhereas there was no significant difference in overall disordered eating between lesbians and heterosexual women, lesbians reported restricting less and binging more than heterosexual women. Bisexual women were more likely than lesbian women to restrict food intake and purge, and more likely than heterosexual women to have overall disordered eating and restrict food intake. "Mostly heterosexual" women were more likely than heterosexual women to restrict food intake, binge and purge.
conclusionsWomen of different sexual orientations show distinct patterns of disordered eating. Bisexual and "mostly heterosexual" women appear to be particularly at risk. Stress resulting from binegativity and rigid views of sexuality in a dichotomous society, rather than sexual orientation itself, may be associated with disordered eating in women. Findings should be viewed with caution because there were few studies with bisexual and "mostly heterosexual" women. This study elucidates the nature of the association between disordered eating and sexual orientation. Findings provide a possible explanation for previous inconsistencies, since opposing trends for different behaviors cancel each other out. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I, systematic review and meta-analysis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.