ABSTRACT
Background: Gender dysphoria is a condition in which there is discrepancy between a person's gender identity and that person's sex assigned at birth. Gender reassignment surgery (GRS) has an important role in alleviating the distress caused by gender dysphoria and it is medically necessary. The literature on quality of life (QoL) of transgenders post-GRS is limited in India.Methods: This is a prospective study on transgender women who volunteered to undergo male to female (MtF) GRS from March 2015 to August 2017. The demographic details and the surgical complications were registered. The Quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was measured both before and a year after the surgery. The data were compared and presented.Results: A total of 62 GRS were performed during the study period. In that, 43 patients are literate (69.35%) and only 31.93% are employed in a socially respectable position. Our study shows significant improvement in physical, psychological and social health domains after the Surgery. Highest improvement was observed in the psychological health domain. There were no major complications observed in our study group.Conclusions: The surgical management improved the QOL in the first three domains of WHOQOL-BREF instrument namely physical health, psychological health and social relationship. Among these three domains, there is a significant improvement in psychological health. Hence, GRS has an important role in relieving the psychological distress caused by gender dysphoria and significantly improves the quality of life postoperatively.
ABSTRACT
Background: Non communicable diseases are responsible for a high proportion of deaths and disabilities. The major risk factors attributed to this are smoking, heavy alcohol drinking, inadequate fruit, and vegetable consumptions, and physical inactivity. While there are data available to understand the prevalence of non-communicable risk factors among men and women, there is no data among transgender community. Hence this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of NCD risk factors among the male-to-female transgender community.Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among 54 transwomen who had been registered with two social welfare organizations for transgender community in Chennai. The risk factor was assessed using WHO STEPS instrument.Results: Among the transwomen, 16.7% were currently smoking tobacco, while 18.5% were using smokeless forms of tobacco. Alcohol consumption was observed in 44.4% of the population. 62.9% of them were not involved in any kind of exerting physical activity for recreation. 25.9% had undergone hormone supplementation for gender affirmation. Prevalence of obesity was 20.4% in the study population. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia was 11.1%, 5.6% and 7.4% respectively.Conclusions: High Prevalence of certain risk factors such as smokeless tobacco usage, alcohol consumption and hormone supplementation were seen among the male-to-female transgender community compared to the general population. Targeted interventions must be made so that specific attention is given to the transgender community in various NCD programs by the government. They must also be supported and accepted by every member of this society.