Preuves de très faible certitude : une revue majeure interroge les bénéfices mentaux des hormones croisées avant 26 ans

Thérapie hormonale affirmant le genre pour les individus atteints de dysphorie de genre âgés de moins de 26 ans : une revue systématique et une méta-analyse

Revues systématiques & des données probantes Hormones croisées Santé mentale & suicide

Authors: Anna Miroshnychenko, Sara Ibrahim, Yetiani Roldan, Chan Kulatunga-Moruzi, Steven Montante, Rachel Couban, Gordon Guyatt, Romina Brignardello-Petersen
Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood
Year: 2025
Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39855725/

Summary

This review collected studies up to September 2023 on testosterone or oestrogen for teens and young adults with gender distress, and rated the evidence. Of 24 studies, none was a randomised trial, where people are assigned to treatment by chance. Most ignored other mental health care, family support or missing results. Almost every finding on mental health and gender distress was rated very low quality. One study linked hormones to somewhat less depression, but this too was weak evidence. In one study, about 4% of females on testosterone had a heart or blood vessel event over several years. With no comparison group, this cannot show the hormones caused them. The authors conclude benefit or harm cannot be ruled out. The findings match other reviews, but the review was commissioned and paid for by SEGM, a group critical of youth transition, and newer studies are not included.

Key findings

La revue a trouvé 24 études sur les hormones du sexe opposé chez des personnes d'âge moyen inférieur à 26 ans : 9 comparaient des personnes traitées et non traitées, 13 mesuraient les personnes avant et après, et 2 décrivaient seulement des patients traités.
Il n'y avait aucun essai randomisé, dans lequel les personnes sont affectées au traitement par le hasard.
Les preuves sur la détresse de genre, le fonctionnement quotidien et la dépression ont été jugées en majorité de très faible qualité.
Une étude a trouvé que les personnes sous hormones avaient un peu moins de risques d'être déprimées (environ un quart de probabilités en moins), mais ces preuves ont été jugées de faible qualité.
Dans une étude de dossiers, 151 femmes sur 3 875 (3,9 %) ont eu un événement cardiaque ou vasculaire entre 7 mois et 9 ans après le début de la testostérone ; une autre étude en a trouvé 3 sur 1 893 (0,2 %) après environ 2 ans.
Dans une étude, 2 personnes sur 315 (0,6 %) sont mortes par suicide en 2 ans, mais ces preuves ont été jugées très faibles.
De nombreuses études ne tenaient pas compte du traitement psychiatrique, des autres troubles de santé mentale, du revenu ou du soutien familial, et plusieurs avaient des résultats pour moins de la moitié des personnes.
Les auteurs concluent qu'on ne peut exclure ni bénéfice ni préjudice et appellent à des études rigoureuses qui suivent les personnes dans le temps.

Abstract

Objective In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we assessed and summarised the certainty of the evidence about the effects of gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) in individuals with gender dysphoria (GD). Methods We searched Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Social Sciences Abstracts, LGBTQ+ Source and Sociological Abstracts from inception to September 2023. We included studies comparing GAHT with no GAHT in individuals aged <26 years with GD. Outcomes of interest included psychological and physical effects. Pairs of reviewers independently screened articles, abstracted data and assessed the risk of bias in the included studies. We performed meta-analyses and assessed the certainty of the evidence using the grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation (GRADE) approach. Results We included 24 studies. Comparative observational studies (n=9) provided mostly very low certainty evidence regarding GD, global function and depression. One comparative observational study reported that the odds of depression may be lower (OR 0.73 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.88), n (number of studies)=1, low certainty) in individuals who received GAHT compared with those who did not. Before-after studies (n=13) provided very low certainty evidence about GD, global function, depression and bone mineral density. Case series studies (n=2) provided high certainty evidence that the proportion of individuals with cardiovascular events 7-109 months after receiving GAHT was 0.04 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.05, n=1, high certainty). Conclusion There is considerable uncertainty about the effects of GAHT and we cannot exclude the possibility of benefit or harm. Methodologically rigorous prospective studies are needed to produce higher certainty evidence. Trial registration number PROSPERO CRD42023452171.

Conclusion

The best available evidence reporting on the effects of GAHT in individuals with GD ranged from moderate to high certainty for cardiovascular events and low to very low certainty for the outcomes of GD, global function, depression, sexual dysfunction, BMD and death by suicide. We did not find evidence of sexual dysfunction in NMs. The evidence in this SR and meta-analysis does not exclude the possibility of benefit or harm upon receipt of GAHT. Prospective studies giving higher certainty evidence are needed to understand the short and long term effects of GAHT.

Methodological limitations

Funder has a stated position: The review was commissioned by the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) under an agreement with McMaster. SEGM board member William Malone and contributor Evgenia Abbruzzese helped shape the review question.
Authors paid by the funder for other work: Two authors (RB-P, AM) were paid by SEGM for separate work rating gender-medicine papers for its website. They say this was independent of the review.
Search is out of date: The search ended in September 2023, so later long-term studies are not included.
English-language studies only: The authors admit this. Studies in other languages may have been missed.
Mixes teens and adults: Studies counted if the average age was under 26, so average ages ranged from 15 to 25. This makes the results less useful for decisions about teenagers.
Heart figures only show how often, not why: The 3.9% rate comes from one study with no comparison group. It shows how often events happened, not whether hormones caused them, even though the review rated it high-quality evidence of frequency.
Other factors not accounted for: The comparison studies were at serious or critical risk of bias because they did not account for psychiatric treatment, other mental health conditions, income or family support.
Comparison group was not really untreated: In one study, 28% of the 'no hormones' group were taking puberty blockers or a testosterone-blocking drug (spironolactone). This blurs the comparison.
Lots of missing results: Several studies had results for only 20% to 47% of people. This is a serious source of bias the review cannot fix.
Adjusted quality-rating tool: The authors changed a standard bias-rating tool so it could be used on simpler studies. They say other tools would give similar conclusions, but the changed version has not been tested.
Conflicting results handled by judgement: Results varied hugely between studies. The authors did not always lower their rating for this, and explained the differences only after the fact.
A guessed number and no 'does it matter' test: The authors assumed a figure needed to calculate before-and-after change. They also set no threshold for what size of change matters to patients, so real-world importance is not judged.
Some harms not looked at: To keep the work manageable, regret, anxiety, pelvic pain and cancers were not assessed. So several important possible harms are not covered.

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Summary

Key findings

Abstract

Conclusion