The study, commissioned by the UK Department of Health, said hormones should only be prescribed to teenagers “with extreme caution”.
The evidence supporting medical interventions for young people questioning their gender is “remarkably weak”, leading some doctors to abandon the “usual clinical approach” of prescribing hormones to teenagers. This was revealed in a ground-breaking study in the UK.
The long-term health effects of masculinizing and feminizing hormones on teenagers are “limited and need to be better understood,” it said, adding that such interventions “should be done with extreme caution.” A study commissioned by Britain's National Health Service said on Wednesday.
Puberty blockers, which are given to pre-teens to delay puberty, have not been found to be effective in alleviating gender dysphoria or improving “body satisfaction,” and have been shown to have no effect on psychological Evidence for effects on health, cognitive development and fertility is insufficient or inconsistent, the Cass review said.
The review said there was also evidence that puberty blockers were “buying time to think”, as the majority of young people taking them were also on hormone therapy.
Pediatrician Hilary Cass, who led the review, said that while doctors are usually wary of introducing new research findings into emerging medical fields, “quite the opposite happened in the field of child gender care.” said.
“The practice quickly spread to other countries based on the results of a Dutch study that suggested that puberty blockers may improve the psychological well-being of narrowly gender nonconforming children.” “Nearly following the mid-teens, it was ready to start masculinizing/feminizing hormones, and this approach was extended to a broader group of adolescents who did not meet the inclusion criteria of the original Dutch study,” Kass said. As mentioned in the preface. Report.
“Some practitioners have abandoned the usual clinical approach to comprehensive assessment, believing that this group of young people are exceptionalized compared to other young people with similarly complex symptoms.'' I mean, they deserve better.”
Kass also expressed concern about the “exceptionally” harmful nature of public discussions about transgender and gender-questioning youth.
“I have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate gender affirmation, and have equally been criticized for engaging with groups and individuals who advocate more sensitivity. “The knowledge and expertise of experienced clinicians who come to different conclusions about the best approach to care can sometimes be overruled and invalidated,” Kass said.
“There are few other medical fields where professionals are so afraid to publicly discuss their opinions, where people are vilified on social media, and where slander leads to the worst acts of bullying. This has to stop. not.”
Kass said research is being “exaggerated or misrepresented” on all sides of the debate, even though the evidence is “remarkably weak” in this area.
“The reality is that there is not enough evidence about the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress,” she says.
Professor Kass will ask the University of York to carry out four analyzes of existing evidence as part of the review to examine current guidelines for managing gender dysphoria and research into the use of hormones and puberty blockers. I ordered.
The NHS undertook the review in 2020, following a sharp rise in the number of young people questioning their gender identity and concerns that some minors were being inappropriately identified as transgender. was commissioned.
Last month the NHS announced it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers to children and young people outside of clinical research trials.
Britain's first gender identity clinic for children, run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, closed last month after years of criticism for rushing minors to change their gender.