Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To describe the effects and side effects of cross-sex hormone therapy in both transsexual men and women.

Design: Single center cross-sectional study in one hundred transsexual persons post SRS and on average 10 years on cross-sex hormone therapy.

Methods: Hormone levels were measured by immunoassays. Physical health was assessed by physical examination and questionnaires on general health and specific side effects, areal bone parameters and body composition by Dual energy X ray absorptiometry (DXA).

Results: Transsexual men did not experience important side effects as cardiovascular events, hormone related cancers or osteoporosis. In contrast, a quarter of the transsexual women had osteoporosis at the lumbar spine and radius. Moreover, 6% of transsexual women experienced a thromboembolic event and another 8% experienced other cardiovascular problems after on average 11.3 hormone treatment years. None of the transsexual women experienced a hormone-related cancer during the treatment. Many transsexual men and women had several cardiovascular risk factors which could have affected future cardiovascular health.

Conclusion: Cross-sex hormone treatment appears to be safe in transsexual men. Transsexual women experience more tromboembolic and other cardiovascular events possibly related to life style factors, older age and estrogen treatment.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.