Recording the sexual orientation of male patients attending general practice

Abstract

Background. Determination of a patient's sexual orientation is important to guide appropriate health care. We assessed how frequently sexual orientation is included in the health records of men attending general practice and factors associated with its recording. Methods. Routine consultation data were extracted from seven Australian general practices in a 2-year period (2011-12) as part of a sexual health testing intervention for gay and bisexual men. We calculated the proportion of male patients with sexual orientation recorded and used logistic regression to determine patient, provider, clinic and community factors associated with recording. Results. There were 12 475 men who attended the..