Using new evidence synthesis techniques to explore health and care inequalities among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people 

This proposal will use a developing approach to synthesising existing quantitative data to enhance the evidence base around health, wellbeing and care inequalities among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. We will review the potential of nationally representative UK datasets for individual participant data meta-analysis and apply individual participant data meta-analysis. We will focus on four target measures of general health: alcohol consumption; mental wellbeing; and provision and receipt of social care among older LGBT people. By combining evidence from multiple datasets we expect to show representative findings for LGBT outcomes.

We will use the data to develop policy and research recommendations. By combining evidence from multiple datasets we expect to show representative findings for LGBT outcomes (including statistically significant differences) that we would otherwise not have sufficient power to detect if modelling using individual datasets alone. We will develop a network of collaborators to expand the trialled approach, creating a stronger evidence base of LGBT health and care needs across different age groups and international settings including low- and middle-income countries.