Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy has a positive impact on well-being

New evidence shows that people who have undergone Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy report high grades of satisfaction with both the physical and psychological effects. A new study on this topic, carried out by researchers in Portugal, will be presented today (21 May 2022) at the 24th European Congress of Endocrinology in Milan, Italy.

Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) aims to align the characteristics of an individual with their gender identity. Typically, this means altering a person’s hormone levels to match their gender identity. Dr. Miguel Saraiva and team at the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto - Hospital de Santo António wanted to understand to what degree this type of therapy impacts the lives of those affected. To this end, the team conducted a cross-sectional study in March 2021, collecting data via an online questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed to adults living in Portugal who had undergone GAHT for at least one year. The questionnaire used an ordinal scale ranging from 0 (worst result) to 6 (best result). With a median age of 25 years, 142 people completed the questionnaire: 101 for masculinising GAHT and 41 for feminising GAHT. The overall satisfaction with GAHT was rated at 5.0 points on a scale of 6.0.

The high score was consistent across several metrics and shows that GAHT positively influences self-esteem, well-being, and social/familial relationships in the Portuguese adult transgender population. GAHT similarly appears to reduce suicidal ideation, having a significant impact on the quality of life of the people who benefit from it.

”The well-being of transgender patients is very important, and we are happy to document the very positive result of Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy on the Portuguese transgender population,” concluded Dr. Saraiva.