摘要：Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in the United States experience a number of health disparities and unique contributing factors to them. From a research perspective, survey design and implementation challenges, such as lack of inclusion of effective items for assessing SGM status and inadequate sampling methods, remain barriers to studying SGM. The purpose of this commentary is to describe, using the National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) survey items and datasets, the primary limitations we encountered when trying to describe SGM tobacco use. Our intent is to demonstrate through use of a national dataset around a specific health disparity, the imperative for researchers to change their data collection strategies and practices around tobacco use and other healthcare priorities. Our team utilized the 2009 NATS dataset as well as the 2012 iteration to highlight significant changes between them regarding demographics, tobacco use, and access to healthcare, in addition to methodological concerns regarding sampling strategies. It is critical that researchers strive to use items for survey research that accurately capture data on marginalized groups. Additionally, careful consideration is warranted regarding strategies to identify members of these populations, changes in item wording, and changes in questions asked over time in an effort to track changes in behavior over time.
