(Adds NIH response, news conference, other comments)
BOSTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Gaping holes exist in data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and more research is needed for doctors and health programs to better serve them, a U.S. report released on Thursday showed.
The Institute of Medicine report suggested research into social influences, barriers to equitable health care and the differing needs of various generations of the community, referred to as LGBT.
"The report makes clear that we have enormous gaps in our understanding of the health issues confronting LGBT people," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, which commissioned the report.
"One critical issue is that we have not systematically or accurately collected data from research participants about sexual orientation or gender identity."
Most doctors are not well educated in how to care for this group, including understanding sexual orientation development, gender identity and the impact of stigma and discrimination on health, the report said.
That affects their ability to ask the right questions about support at home, to make referrals, and to order the proper tests for physical and mental health care, said Dr. Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University and a contributor to the report.
With a clearer picture of the patients they serve, doctors can provide better health care, policy makers can fund appropriate prevention programs and researchers will understand which problems need more study, Ryan said.
"This is a sea change in establishing the scientific importance of research in LGBT health," said Ryan.
The Institute of Medicine, an independent arm of the National Academy of Sciences, advises the government policy-makers and the public on health issues.
The report summarized what many experts already know about the population, including that LGB youths are at increased risk for suicide and depression, that HIV-AIDS primarily affects young black men who have sex with other men and that LGBT people are frequently targets of discrimination and violence.
It said health departments could collect more data by adding questions to existing federally funded surveys about the general population.
However, getting the right data to researchers might prove to be more difficult than asking the right questions. Research team members said at a Washington news conference there are methodological, funding, and political barriers.
"This is something that we've done for other populations and quite frankly we simply should be doing it for this population," said Northwestern University professor Robert Garofalo.
NIH said it will begin improving methodology for collecting survey data on sexual orientation and gender identity and consider new ways to support recommended research initiatives.
Judith Bradford, a research director at The Fenway Institute LGBT advocacy group in Boston, credited the report with highlighting that the community has different health care needs. For example, older LGBT individuals are less likely than heterosexual couples to have children that will care for them in their old age.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey praised the report and said it "exposes the disturbing fact that our community has been largely ignored in most medical and health services research." (Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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