19 keer meer zelfmoorden na geslachtsaanpassing dan in vergelijkbare bevolking: Zweeds cohort over 30 jaar

Langetermijnopvolging van transseksuele personen met een geslachtsaanpassende operatie: cohortonderzoek in Zweden

Cohort- & registerstudies Chirurgie Geestelijke gezondheid & zelfmoord

Authors: Cecilia Dhejne, Paul Lichtenstein, Marcus Boman, Anna L. V. Johansson, Niklas Långström, Mikael Landén
Journal: PLOS ONE
Year: 2011
Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

Summary

Swedish researchers used national records to follow everyone who had sex reassignment surgery and changed legal sex between 1973 and 2003. They compared each person with ten random people of the same age and sex. Over about 11 years, the reassigned group died about three times as often and died by suicide about 19 times as often. They were about five times as likely to attempt suicide and three times as likely to be admitted for psychiatric care, even after allowing for earlier psychiatric admissions. The gaps in deaths and suicide attempts were mainly among people treated before 1989. The authors concluded that surgery, while easing gender distress, is not enough on its own, and better long-term care is needed. Because the comparison was with the general public, not trans people who did not transition, the study cannot say whether surgery made things better or worse.

Key findings

Alle 324 mensen in Zweden die tussen 1973 en 2003 een geslachtsaanpassende operatie ondergingen en van wettelijk geslacht veranderden (191 man-naar-vrouw, 133 vrouw-naar-man) werden vergeleken met 3.240 mensen uit de algemene bevolking van hetzelfde geboortejaar en geslacht.
Sterfte door alle oorzaken was ongeveer 3 keer hoger dan bij mensen van hetzelfde geboortegeslacht, waarbij het verschil na ongeveer 10 jaar ontstond.
Overlijden door suïcide was ongeveer 19 keer hoger, gebaseerd op 10 suïcides onder de 324 tegenover 5 in de vergelijkingsgroep. Het werkelijke cijfer is zeer onzeker (ergens tussen ongeveer 6 en 63 keer).
Suïcidepogingen waren ongeveer 5 keer hoger en opnames in een psychiatrisch ziekenhuis ongeveer 3 keer hoger, zelfs na correctie voor psychiatrische opnames vóór de operatie, die in de aangepaste groep ongeveer 4 keer zo vaak voorkwamen.
Sterfte door hart- en vaatziekten was enigszins verhoogd (ongeveer 2,5 keer; 9 sterfgevallen), en sterfte aan kanker was mogelijk verhoogd (ongeveer 2 keer). De auteurs waarschuwen dat de aantallen klein waren en gaven hormonen niet de schuld.
Bij mensen die van 1989 tot 2003 werden behandeld, konden de extra sterfgevallen en suïcidepogingen toeval zijn, hoewel psychiatrische opnames nog steeds ongeveer 2,5 keer hoger waren.
Vrouw-naar-man-personen hadden meer strafrechtelijke veroordelingen dan andere vrouwen, ongeveer evenveel als mannen; man-naar-vrouw-personen verschilden niet van andere mannen.
De auteurs zeggen dat de studie niet kan laten zien of geslachtsaanpassing werkt als behandeling, en dat de resultaten zonder de behandeling zelfs slechter hadden kunnen zijn.

Abstract

Context: The treatment for transsexualism is sex reassignment, including hormonal treatment and surgery aimed at making the person's body as congruent with the opposite sex as possible. There is a dearth of long term, follow-up studies after sex reassignment.

Objective: To estimate mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgical sex reassignment of transsexual persons.

Design: A population-based matched cohort study.

Setting: Sweden, 1973-2003.

Participants: All 324 sex-reassigned persons (191 male-to-females, 133 female-to-males) in Sweden, 1973-2003. Random population controls (10:1) were matched by birth year and birth sex or reassigned (final) sex, respectively.

Main Outcome Measures: Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for mortality and psychiatric morbidity were obtained with Cox regression models, which were adjusted for immigrant status and psychiatric morbidity prior to sex reassignment (adjusted HR [aHR]).

Results: The overall mortality for sex-reassigned persons was higher during follow-up (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 1.8-4.3) than for controls of the same birth sex, particularly death from suicide (aHR 19.1; 95% CI 5.8-62.9). Sex-reassigned persons also had an increased risk for suicide attempts (aHR 4.9; 95% CI 2.9-8.5) and psychiatric inpatient care (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 2.0-3.9). Comparisons with controls matched on reassigned sex yielded similar results. Female-to-males, but not male-to-females, had a higher risk for criminal convictions than their respective birth sex controls.

Conclusions: Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.

Conclusion

Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.

Methodological limitations

No untreated comparison group: The comparison was with the general public, not people with gender dysphoria who did not have surgery. So the study cannot judge whether treatment made things better or worse. The authors say the results should not be read as showing that surgery itself causes illness or death.
Few other factors allowed for: The analysis only took account of earlier psychiatric hospital stays and being an immigrant. Earlier outpatient mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, smoking, poverty, HIV and discrimination were not accounted for.
Older treatment era: Most of the group were treated in the 1970s and 1980s. For those treated from 1989 to 2003, extra deaths and suicide attempts could have been chance, so the overall figures may overstate the risk for later patients.
Few deaths, uncertain figures: The 19-times suicide figure rests on 10 suicides (versus 5 in the comparison group), so the true figure could be anywhere from about 6 to 63 times higher. There were only 9 heart deaths, and the authors note the study was too small to be precise.
Hospital stays only: Mental illness was measured only by psychiatric hospital stays, because reliable outpatient data were not available. This undercounts mental illness, and differences in who gets admitted could skew the comparison.
Surgery worked out indirectly: Who had surgery was worked out from hospital diagnosis codes plus a change of legal sex. The exact operations were not recorded, and the diagnosis code used was not specific.
No hormone or lifestyle data: Type, dose and length of hormone use and smoking were not recorded, so the extra heart and cancer deaths cannot be blamed on cross-sex hormones. The authors note most cancers seen were unlikely to be hormone-related.
No measures of benefit: The study did not measure gender distress, quality of life or satisfaction, so it says nothing about whether surgery relieved distress.
Small subgroups: Comparisons between male-to-female and female-to-male groups, including the crime results, were too small to be reliable, as the authors admit.
May not apply today: Patients were mostly adults treated under strict Swedish rules before 2004, mainly born male. Results may not apply to today's larger, younger, mostly female patients or to people who transition without surgery.
Rough start date: The date of surgery was estimated from hospital records. According to the authors, this could slightly undercount some events but not deaths.
Often misquoted: The lead author has said publicly that the paper is often wrongly cited as proof that transition causes suicide (TransAdvocate interview 2015; Reddit Q&A 2017). The paper itself does not claim cause either way.

detrans.ai

Summary

Key findings

Abstract

Conclusion