Health behaviors by sexual orientation U.S. 2015

This statistic depicts the percentage of U.S. adults that were engaged in select health behaviors as of 2015, by sexual orientation. According to the data, among respondents that identified as gay/lesbian about 18 percent were current cigarette smokers.

Percentage of U.S. adults that engaged in select health-related behaviors as of 2015, by sexual orientation

Characteristic	Gay/lesbian	Straight	Bisexual
Current cigarette smoker*	18.4%	14.9%	24.9%
At least one heavy drinking day in the past year**	33.6%	23.3%	47.1%
Met federal guidelines for aerobic physical activity***	53.2%	48.9%	53.6%

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Release date

November 2016

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2015

Number of respondents

232,324 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Supplementary notes

* A person who had smoked more than 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime and now smokes everyday or some days.
** For men, a person who had at least 12 drinks of any type of alcoholic beverage in his lifetime, and has had five or more drinks of any alcoholic beverage in at least 1 day in the past year. For women, a person who had at least 12 alcoholic drinks of any type in her lifetime, and has had four or more drinks of any alcoholic beverage in at least 1 day in the past year.
*** Refers to meeting the 2008 federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which are being used for the Healthy People 2020 objectives. Meeting the guidelines for aerobic activity means that adults perform at least 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. The 2008 guidelines state that aerobic activity should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes and preferably should be spread throughout the week. Only leisure-time physical activity is used in the determination of whether or not these guidelines have been met.

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