Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Issues and Research Gaps and Opportunities.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64806/

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience unique health disparities. Although the acronym LGBT is used as an umbrella term, and the health needs of this community are often grouped together, each of these letters represents a distinct population with its own health concerns. Furthermore, among lesbians, gay men, bisexual men and women, and transgender people, there are subpopulations based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, age, and other factors. Although a modest body of knowledge on LGBT health has been developed, these populations, stigmatized as sexual and gender minorities, have been the subject of relatively little health research. As a result, a number of questions arise: What is currently known about the health status of LGBT populations? Where do gaps in the research exist? What are the priorities for a research agenda to address these gaps? At the request of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Institute of Medicine convened a consensus committee to answer these questions.

we get these 'LGBT have unique medical/health needs' thrown up regularly over here but I fail to see why apart from the need to advise to do safe sex.
hormones have been used for 50/60 years now without any serious risks and considering how poor the general health of the whole population is these days the medics need to concentrate on getting people back to eating better food and getting some exercise.

Lilac, really? If the sex ed classes I'd attended as a kid had been at all geared toward lgbt people (instead of one man one woman within a marriage stuff), maybe I wouldn't have tuned them out, and I wouldn't have become such a stereotypical statistic (homeless teenaged welfare mom).

If trans people were respected and recognized by health care professionals, maybe I would have been comfortable seeking medical care when I got PID. Because it went untreated for so long (I was at the time living as male, sleeping with a bi guy, but didn't know the words for trans and only knew that clinics assumed I was a prostitute or on drugs), my kidneys shut down and my ovaries and uterus got filled with massive amounts of scar tissue. I had to be admitted to the ICU and kept on antibiotics and fluids for days. Because I was scared, because doctors and nurses don't understand people like us. I almost died.

Just this year I had a gynecologist tell me I'm wrong, that there's no such thing as transgender, that I'll be a woman until I'm dead and so I might as well look forward to either being a woman or being dead. She also stopped treating the problem I was there for in the first place. I found another gynecologist, and she's merely passive-aggressively transphobic, which I'm settling for. She doesn't listen to me or treat the problems I go to her for help with, but she at least doesn't tell me I'm a woman. She agreed to perform surgical sterilization. That's great. My expectations are extremely low. I certainly don't expect dignity.

My regular physician is intimidated by me. He made it quite clear that my transgender status puts me way out of his league as a professional, and that he doesn't feel comfortable treating me. We're not talking about transition care, but about standard healthcare. Colds and infections and immunizations and stuff. He thinks he's not qualified to give me basic healthcare. Like I'm some kind of exotic zoo specimen.

LGBT do have unique medical/health needs. We wouldn't, if providers were just a little more educated about us, but as it stands, we do.

My little rant here isn't even addressing research, which is what the article is actually about. The people who worked on it were from the fields of "mental health, biostatistics, clinical medicine, adolescent health and development, aging, parenting, behavioral sciences, HIV research, demography, racial and ethnic disparities, and health services." We are pathetically underrepresented in so many aspects of science and medicine that we might as well not exist, as far as a lot of people are concerned.

Eating better food and exercising is not something you need a doctor to tell you to do, anyway.

Sex Ed? How many trans people have had a parent give them dating advice like they do with their cis-gender children? Expecting the Health and Education systems to be fully supportive will be a long haul job.

Another item to consider is the long term health needs of the TG/TS community, that includes post-op's and non-op's.  Since SRS/GRS/GCS has only been performed since the early 1950's there is not much known about the needs when one is 60, 70, 80 and 90 years old. The long term effects of HRT, same thing. Being in Healthcare myself, just what I see affecting the "Cis" population alone;neglect, Dementia/Alz, Chronic Heart and Lung diseases/disorders.

Each segment of L-G-B-T-I-Q has their own unique issues, and add to that the aging of the Baby Boomers,  it'll give a new spin to..."baby, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!"

SJ