Study: Most Who Begin Gender-Affirming Care in Youth Continue Into Adulthood

It feels like trans youth—and specifically their ability to access gender-affirming care—have been under consistent attack in 2022. To the dismay of transphobes and right-wing naysayers, who regularly argue that young people aren’t ready to make decisions about their own gender and bodies (albeit with the help of parents and doctors), a new study offers a bit more insight on the topic, finding that most people who initiate gender-affirming treatments in their youth continue the treatments as adults.

The study was conducted by Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherland and published online last week by The Lancet. Researchers looked at 720 people who were treated with puberty blockers and hormones at the center as an adolescent and whether or not they continued to receive gender-affirming care.

In the study summary, researchers note, “Most participants who started gender-affirming hormones in adolescence continued this treatment into adulthood. The continuation of treatment is reassuring considering the worries that people who started treatment in adolescence might discontinue gender-affirming treatment.”

“Most” in this case is truly the vast majority, as 704 of the 720 total participants (98%) who started gender-affirming medical treatment in adolescence were still using gender-affirming hormones at the time of followup.

The report also notes, to the knowledge of researchers, that this is the first study to assess continuation of gender-affirming hormones in a large group of trans individuals who started medical treatment with puberty suppression in their adolescence.

Dr. Marianne van de Loos, an Amsterdam UMC physician who coauthored the study, tells The Daily Beast that the study’s key message “is that the majority of people who went through a thorough diagnostic evaluation prior to starting treatment continued gender-affirming hormones at follow-up,” adding, “This is reassuring regarding the recent increased public concern about regret of transition.”

Politicians are introducing anti-trans bills this year at record rates. A recent Washington Post analysis found that, as of October 13, there were 155 anti-trans bills introduced in state houses in 2022, compared to 131 anti-trans bills in all of 2021, a mere 60 bills in 2020, 25 in 2019, and 19 in 2018. While these bills cover a variety of topics, many specifically target the accessibility of gender-affirming care for youth.