A new national study conducted by researchers at Yale University shows that older transgender adults undergoing gender-affirming treatment, including medication and surgery, enjoy a better quality of life than those who do not.
“Even though transgender individuals are recommended to medically transition at an early age, old age alone should not deter transgender individuals from seeking gender-affirming medical treatments,” said lead study author Xiang Cai of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, in a recent Reuters report.
Reuters went on to say:
Research on the psychological benefits of hormones and surgeries that align transgender people’s outward appearance with their gender identities has largely focused on younger people, researchers note in LGBT Health.
The current study compared outcomes for transgender adults treated before and after age 60, however, and found older patients reported greater gains in quality of life from gender-affirming treatments than younger people. …
“Undergoing gender-affirmative medical treatments has shown to be associated with improved psychological wellbeing (e.g., higher life satisfaction and lessened gender dysphoria) among transgender adults, regardless of age,” Cai, who did the study at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, said by email.
The study included 1,442 transgender men and 978 transgender women. Most were white.
Compared to participants who didn’t have any gender-affirming treatment, adults under age 60 who did have treatment were more than twice as likely to report high quality of life scores in surveys. And, people over age 60 who had gender-affirming treatment were more than eight times as likely to report high quality of life scores afterward. …
The effect of gender-affirming treatment on quality of life appeared more pronounced for transgender women than for transgender men, the study found.
Older adults might experience greater improvements in quality of life after gender-affirming treatment because they’ve developed strategies for coping with stigma related to their age and gender identity, and these strategies might help them navigate the treatment process more successfully, the study authors suggest. …
The study wasn’t designed to prove if or how gender-affirming treatment impacts quality of life. It also didn’t distinguish between treatment options like hormone therapy and surgical procedures, or examine data on side effects of these interventions.
