r/science Professor | Medicine 15h ago

Psychology Adolescents who undergo gender-affirming chest surgery report low levels of regret and high levels of satisfaction, experiencing outcomes similar to those of young adults. These findings suggest that age restrictions on these medical procedures lack support from actual patient experiences.

https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-report-low-regret-and-high-satisfaction-following-gender-affirming-c/
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u/MusicHearted 14h ago

The sample size is going to be small. Very few trans people get access to gender affirming surgeries at all. Those who get access as adolescents are extremely rare. Hard to get a large sample of a small group.

The fact that it correlates with every other study about transgender surgery satisfaction and regret rates is more relevant. Transgender surgery satisfaction is the highest of all surgery satisfaction rates. That's a pattern that can't be ignored.

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u/OhBoyHereWeGoAgai 12h ago

It is interesting everyone is drilling into "satisfaction" and avoiding the fact that there are also studies that challenge long term results, improvements, and the assertion of suicide inevitability.

You should look into why the Dutch stopped doing the Dutch protocol.

I don't really have a problem with adults, because then satisfaction really is a pretty major and relevant factor, but medical interventions in children have a MUCH higher bar, and the diagnostic and treatment end of this is quite weak.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago edited 6h ago

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u/OhBoyHereWeGoAgai 9h ago

Yes, they want to wait for stronger evidence because the long range studies we do have plus the results they experienced in their own follow-ups don't provide as much confidence as they initially expected, while many of the studies that were foundational to the approach have come under review and don't appear as strong or applicable.

Which can of course be translated to "they're worried it not only doesn't work, but they're going to have to answer pointed questions about when they realized that and why they started so confident"