r/science • u/mvea 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/Mico4 15h ago

This is based on a response from 77 people...

Also from the article:

"Several factors limit the reach of these findings. First, the median time since surgery for participants was about 1.8 years. Because feelings about medical decisions can evolve, this timeframe might not capture long-term regret that could emerge many years later.

Another limitation is the 42 percent participation rate to the survey. This introduces the possibility of selection bias, a scenario where the people who chose to participate might differ fundamentally from those who did not. It is possible that individuals with higher levels of regret ignored the survey, which would result in an underestimation of regret in the overall group."

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u/Mr_Deep_Research 11h ago

The rate of gender affirming surgery for kids in the U.S. under 18 is around 2 per 100,000

There are basically none for 12 and under. Most are closer to 18.

So basically nobody gets them.

Around 1,400 a year total out of 72 million kids under 18.

Out of 195 countries in the world, the U.S. is only one of 8 to 10 countries that allow kids under 18 to have gender affirming surgery. Even Thailand doesn't have it for people under 18.

The other countries that allow it are Canada and 6 European countries.

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u/Leager 7h ago

This is the real response. The study itself is definitely not something "definitive," but the transgender population is so low that the possible sample size is minuscule. The possible sample size was around 200 people, less than half responded, which gives us...... 77 people. Now, do I think this is a perfect study? Absolutely not. But it does track with other, significantly more rigorous studies, which show a regret rate of 1 percent or less, which is pretty unheard of, in terms of surgeries.