ECE2022 Poster Presentations Reproductive and Developmental Endocrinology (61 abstracts)
1Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto - Hospital de Santo António, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Porto,; 2Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto; 3Hospital de Magalhães Lemos; 4i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto
Introduction: The prevalence of Transgender individuals seeking gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) has been increasing. This therapy has been known to be highly effective in the treatment of gender dysphoria and enhancing mental health in this population.
Aim: To evaluate the overall impact of GAHT on self-esteem, well-being and social/familial relations in the Portuguese adult transgender population
Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in March 2021. Data collected through an online questionnaire that was delivered to adult transgender people living in Portugal who had been under GAHT for at least one year. To answer some of the items on the questionnaire, an ordinal scale ranging from 0 (worst result) to 6 (best result) was used.
Results: A total of 142 individuals (Group T) answered the questionnaire: 101 under masculinizing GAHT (Group M) and 41 under feminizing GAHT (Group F), with a median age of 25.0(21.0−33.0) years. The overall satisfaction with GAHT was evaluated with a median of 5.0 (5.0-6.0) points, with no differences between subgroups (P=0.681).
Variable | Group T | Group M | Group F | ||||||
N | Median (P25-P75) | P | n | Median (P25-P75) | P | n | Median (P25-P75) | P | |
Self-esteem Before After | 114 | 1.5 (1.0 − 2.0) 1.5 (1.0 − 2.0) | <0.001 | 87 | 1.0 (0.0 − 2.0) 5.0 (4.0 6.0) | <0.001 |
27 | 2.0 (1.0–2.0) 5.0 (4.0–6.0) |
<0.001 |
Body wellbeing Before After | 114 | 1.0 (0.0 2.0) 5.0 (4.0 5.0) | <0.001 | 87 | 1.0 (0.0 2.0) 4.0 (3.0 5.0) | <0.001 | 27 | 1.0 (0.0–2.0) 5.0 (4.0–6.0) |
<0.001 |
Suicidal ideation Before After | 114 | 3.0 (1.0 5.0) 5.0 (2.0 6.0) | <0.001 | 87 | 3.0 (1.0 5.0) 5.0 (3.0 6.0) | <0.001 | 27 | 3.0 (1.0–5.0) 3.0 (2.0–6.0) |
0.406 |
Social relations Before After | 113 | 3.0 (1.0 4.0) 5.0 (3.0 6.0) | <0.001 | 86 | 3.0 (1.0 5.0) 5.0 (3.0 6.0) | <0.001 | 27 | 3.0 (0.0–4.0) 5.0 (3.0–6.0) |
0.003 |
Familial relations Before After | 114 | 3.0 (1.0 4.3) 4.0 (3.0 5.0) | <0.001 | 87 | 3.0 (2.0 5.0) 4.0 (3.0 5.0) | <0.001 |
27 | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) 5.0 (3.0–5.0) |
0.019 |
Discussion: This study reinforces that transgender people report high grades of satisfaction with both the physical and psychological effects of GAHT. This therapy seems to significantly enhance self-esteem, body wellbeing and social/familial relations and to reduce suicidal ideation, having an overall great impact on the quality of life of transgender people.