Some transexual individuals undergo surgical and hormonal therapies, as they believe their external characteristics don’t match up with the person they are inside. Many wellness experts are concerned about how hormone therapy can put patients’ wellbeing at risk, as it involves receiving large doses of male or female sex hormones. However, a new study, presented at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, has found that hormonal therapy for transexual patients is safe and effective, with few side effects.
According to study lead author Dr. Katrien Wierckx, an endocrinologist at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, ‘Although transexualism remains a rare diagnosis, the number of trans persons seeking hormonal or surgical treatment has drastically increased in recent years, making a detailed multi-centre description on the effects of cross-sex hormonal treatment timely. Our study gives valuable information about the effects of drastic changes in sex steroids on glucose and lipid metabolism, cardiovascular and bone health, so that we can inform our future clients, their families and other caregivers more accurately on the desired effects, side effects and adverse events of cross-sex hormonal treatment.’
For the study, 45 transexual men and 42 transexual women at four European centres in Ghent, Oslo, Amsterdam and Florence – that specialise in transgender treatment – were given treatment for a year. Those transitioning from male to female were given anti-androgen treatment in combination with a form of oestrogen, while female-to-male transexuals received a form of the male sex hormone testosterone. Throughout the study, the researchers measured participants’ waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, and the percentages of fat and lean tissue mass, and follow-up was one year.
Those transitioning from male to female experienced breast tenderness, hot flashes, emotional behaviour, decreased interest in sexual activity, significantly increased fat tissue and decreased lean tissue and muscle. Those transitioning from female to male had an increased interest in sexual desire, greater variation in tone of voice, more acne and body hair, increased lean tissue and muscle and decreases in fat tissue. Neither group experienced serious complications, and the researchers noted that this could also help clarify the safety of hormone therapy for other indications.
Wierckx explained, ‘Studies in transexual persons generate knowledge on the similarities and differences between men and women. This is why some of our findings can be extrapolated to other, more common conditions that are associated with changes in sex steroid hormones, such as hyperandrogenism in women, for example, polycystic ovarian syndrome; or androgen deprivation therapy in men, for example, when undergoing prostate cancer treatment, or treatment for sex offenders.’
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