Scientists are trying to make Marjorie Taylor Green cry again. In the largest US study so far, researchers tracked trans teens for two years and found strong mental-health benefits to hormone therapy https://trib.al/n3Mmqt2
@RealSeanBrodrick
I'm all for this. Would you be able to fish the citation for the research article from the news article? I don't want to register for Bloomberg. Thanks!
@Helical_Code The study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, should be seen as an important scientific counterpoint to the relentless political attacks on the rights of trans youth.
Researchers at four leading children’s hospitals enrolled more than 300 transgender and nonbinary youth, who were followed regularly for two years after beginning hormone therapy to affirm their gender identity. 1/
@Helical_Code During that time, as their appearance increasingly matched their gender identity, so did their overall well-being — an effect that was sustained over the two years.
The benefit was more pronounced for teens designated female at birth, who accounted for 60% of trial participants. More research is needed, but the team’s hypothesis is those better results come from the more immediate or noticeable effect of taking testosterone, for example, on deepening someone’s voice. 2/
@RealSeanBrodrick
Thank you so much for posting the full text!
I was able to find a page with the NEJM citation and also an editorial:
https://www.nejm.org/medical-research/gender-sexuality-psychiatry
@Helical_Code Excellent. That wasn't the full text of the Bloomberg story, I wish I could post the whole thing for you. But you got the important bits.
@RealSeanBrodrick
Oh really you did more than enough! I was hoping to read the original journal article myself - not that I argue all that much online, but when uninformed opponents say, "Well, MAYbe... (this, that or the other thing)," having read the study puts a person in a position of strength.
I found a WaPo version of the same story, and it didn't have the citation for the story (which honestly makes me crazy, because that's where the petal meets the metal).
@Helical_Code By contrast, estrogen-mediated changes can take anywhere from two to five years to be fully realized.
This work confirms what earlier, smaller, shorter-term studies have found, and is a helpful companion to growing evidence that teens who opt for gender-affirming hormones are committed to that choice. In October, a large study conducted in the Netherlands showed that 98% of teens who begin hormone therapy continue it into adulthood. 3/