Study: Gender-affirming hormones improve mental health in transgender and nonbinary youth MEDICAL X PRESShttps://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-gender-affirming-hormones-mental-health-transgender.htmlby Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
January 18, 2023
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Transgender and nonbinary youth experienced significant improvement in appearance congruence (or the degree to which physical characteristics align with gender) and sustained improvements in depression and anxiety over two years after starting treatment with gender-affirming hormones, according to a multicenter U.S. study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"Our results provide robust scientific evidence that improved appearance congruence secondary to hormone treatment is strongly linked to better mental health outcomes in transgender and nonbinary youth," said lead author Diane Chen, Ph.D., pediatric psychologist with the Gender and Sex Development Program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "This is critical, given that transgender youth experience more depression and anxiety, and are at a higher risk for suicidality than cisgender youth."
The study, the largest of its kind in the U.S., included 315 transgender and non-binary youth ages 12-20 years.
