Impact of Early Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth: Protocol for the Longitudinal, Observational Trans Youth Care Study.

BACKGROUND: Transgender children and adolescents (ie, those who experience incongruence between assigned sex at birth and internal gender identity) are poorly understood and an understudied population in the United States. Since 2008, medical care for transgender youth has generally followed guidelines developed by professional consensus, given the paucity of empirical research, particularly in the US setting. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to provide evidence-based data to inform clinical care for transgender youth. The study aims (1) to evaluate the impact of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists administered for puberty suppression on mental health, psychological well-being, and metabolic and physiologic parameters including bone health in a cohort of children and adolescents (Tanner stages 2-4) with gender dysphoria, comparing baseline and follow-up assessments, and (2) to determine the impact of gender-affirming hormones (eg, estradiol and testosterone) administered for phenotypic gender transition on mental health, psychological well-being, and metabolic and physiologic parameters in a cohort of adolescents with gender dysphoria, comparing baseline and follow-up assessments. METHODS: The study uses a longitudinal observational design to examine the outcomes of existing medical treatment protocols for gender dysphoria in two distinct cohorts: youth initiating puberty suppression and youth pursuing a phenotypic gender transition. Data on routine anthropometric and physiologic parameters are collected through chart abstraction, questionnaires, and research interviews in the 24-month study period. Audio computer-assisted self-interview and individual interview survey instruments are used to collect demographic, mental health, psychosocial, and behavioral data from parents and youth in the blocker cohort and only from youth in the gender-affirming hormone cohort at baseline and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: Participant recruitment commenced in July 2016, and enrollment was completed in September 2018. A total of 90 participants were enrolled in the blocker cohort and 301 participants were enrolled in the gender-affirming hormone cohort. Findings based on baseline data are expected to be submitted for publication in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: This longitudinal, observational study is collecting critical data on the existing models of care for transgender youth that have been used in clinical settings for close to a decade, although with limited empirical research to support them. This research is a direct response to the Institute of Medicine report calling for such studies as well as the needs of clinicians and patients. Results from this study have the potential to significantly impact the medical and mental health services provided to transgender youth by making available rigorous scientific evidence on the impact and safety of early treatment based on the sexual development stage. Ultimately, we aim to understand if early medical intervention reduces the health disparities well known to disproportionately affect transgender individuals across their lifespan. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/14434.

Initial Clinical Guidelines for Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum Disorder and Gender Dysphoria or Incongruence in Adolescents.

Evidence indicates an overrepresentation of youth with co-occurring autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and gender dysphoria (GD). The clinical assessment and treatment of adolescents with this co-occurrence is often complex, related to the developmental aspects of ASD. There are no guidelines for clinical care when ASD and GD co-occur; however, there are clinicians and researchers experienced in this co-occurrence. This study develops initial clinical consensus guidelines for the assessment and care of adolescents with co-occurring ASD and GD, from the best clinical practices of current experts in the field. Expert participants were identified through a comprehensive international search process and invited to participate in a two-stage Delphi procedure to form clinical consensus statements. The Delphi Method is a well-studied research methodology for obtaining consensus among experts to define appropriate clinical care. Of 30 potential experts identified, 22 met criteria as expert in co-occurring ASD and GD youth and participated. Textual data divided into the following data nodes: guidelines for assessment; guidelines for treatment; six primary clinical/psychosocial challenges: social functioning, medical treatments and medical safety, risk of victimization/safety, school, and transition to adulthood issues (i.e., employment and romantic relationships). With a cutoff of 75% consensus for inclusion, identified experts produced a set of initial guidelines for clinical care. Primary themes include the importance of assessment for GD in ASD, and vice versa, as well as an extended diagnostic period, often with overlap/blurring of treatment and assessment.

Subcutaneous Injection of Testosterone Is an Effective and Preferred Alternative to Intramuscular Injection: Demonstration in Female-to-Male Transgender Patients.

Context: Testosterone (T) is commonly administered intramuscularly to treat hypogonadal males and female-to-male (FTM) transgender patients. However, these injections can involve significant discomfort and may require arrangements for administration by others. Objective: We assessed whether T could be administered effectively and safely subcutaneously as an alternative to intramuscular (IM) injections. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Outpatient reproductive endocrinology clinic at an academic medical center. Patients: Sixty-three FTM transgender patients aged >18 years electing to receive subcutaneous (SC) T therapy for sex transition were included. Fifty-three patients were premenopausal. Intervention: Patients were administered T cypionate or enanthate weekly at an initial dose of 50 mg. Dose was adjusted if needed to achieve serum total T levels within the normal male range. Main Outcome Measurements: Serum concentrations of free and total T and total estradiol (E2), masculinization, and surveillance for reactions at injection sites. Results: Serum T levels within the normal male range were achieved in all 63 patients with doses of 50 to 150 mg (median, 75/80 mg). Therapy was effective across a wide range of body mass index (19.0 to 49.9 kg/m2). Minor and transient local reactions were reported in 9 out of 63 patients. Among 53 premenopausal patients, 51 achieved amenorrhea and 35 achieved serum E2 concentrations <50 pg/mL. Twenty-two patients were originally receiving IM and switched to SC therapy. All 22 had a mild (n = 2) or marked (n = 20) preference for SC injections; none preferred IM injections. Conclusions: Our observations indicate that SC T injections are an effective, safe, and well-accepted alternative to IM T injections.

Serving Transgender Youth: Challenges, Dilemmas and Clinical Examples.

Historically, many gender variant individuals have lived in a chronic state of conflict between self-understanding and physical being, one in which there was a continual misalignment between others' perceptions of them and their internal self-perception of gender. Only recently have professionals from mental health and medical realms come together to provide services to these youth. This paper describes an innovative program: the first mental health and medical multidisciplinary clinic housed in a pediatric academic center in North America to serve the needs of gender variant youth. We describe our model of care, focusing on the psychologist's role within a multidisciplinary team and the mental health needs of the youth and families assisted. We highlight clinical challenges and provide practice clinical vignettes to illuminate the psychologist's critical role.

Management of transgenderism.

Gender identity disorder (transgenderism) is poorly understood from both mechanistic and clinical standpoints. Awareness of the condition appears to be increasing, probably because of greater societal acceptance and available hormonal treatment. Therapeutic options include hormone and surgical treatments but may be limited by insurance coverage because costs are high. For patients seeking male-to-female (MTF) change, hormone treatment includes estrogens, finasteride, spironolactone, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs. Surgical options include feminizing genital and facial surgery, breast augmentation, and various fat transplantations. For patients seeking a female-to-male (FTM) gender change, medical therapy includes testosterone and GnRH analogs and surgical therapy includes mammoplasty and phalloplasty. Medical therapy for both FTM and MTF can be started in early puberty, although long-term effects are not known. All patients considering treatment need counseling and medical monitoring.

Current management of gender identity disorder in childhood and adolescence: guidelines, barriers and areas of controversy.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The approach to gender identity disorder (GID) in childhood and adolescence has been rapidly evolving and is in a state of flux. In an effort to form management recommendations on the basis of the available literature, The Endocrine Society published clinical practice guidelines in 2009. The guidelines recommend against sex role change in prepubertal children, but they recommend the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists to suppress puberty in adolescence, and the use of cross-sex hormones starting around age 16 for eligible patients. In actual practice, the approach to GID is quite variable due to continued lack of consensus and specific barriers to treatment that are unique to GID. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent literature has focused on the mental health approach to prepubertal children with GID and short-term outcomes using pubertal suppression and cross-sex steroids in adolescents with GID. SUMMARY: This review will describe the literature published since the release of The Endocrine Society guidelines regarding the management of GID in both children and adolescents.

Psychological evaluation and medical treatment of transgender youth in an interdisciplinary "Gender Management Service" (GeMS) in a major pediatric center.

In 2007, an interdisciplinary clinic for children and adolescents with disorders of sex development (DSD) or gender identity disorder (GID) opened in a major pediatric center. Psychometric evaluation and endocrine treatment via pubertal suppressive therapy and administration of cross-sex steroid hormones was offered to carefully selected patients according to effective protocols used in Holland. Hembree et al.'s (2009) Guidelines for Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons published by the Endocrine Society endorsed these methods. A description of the clinic's protocol and general patient demographics are provided, along with treatment philosophy and goals.

Children and adolescents with gender identity disorder referred to a pediatric medical center.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the patients with gender identity disorder referred to a pediatric medical center. We identify changes in patients after creation of the multidisciplinary Gender Management Service by expanding the Disorders of Sex Development clinic to include transgender patients. METHODS: Data gathered on 97 consecutive patients <21 years, with initial visits between January 1998 and February 2010, who fulfilled the following criteria: long-standing cross-gender behaviors, provided letters from current mental health professional, and parental support. Main descriptive measures included gender, age, Tanner stage, history of gender identity development, and psychiatric comorbidity. RESULTS: Genotypic male:female ratio was 43:54 (0.8:1); there was a slight preponderance of female patients but not significant from 1:1. Age of presentation was 14.8 ± 3.4 years (mean ± SD) without sex difference (P = .11). Tanner stage at presentation was 4.1 ± 1.4 for genotypic female patients and 3.6 ± 1.5 for genotypic male patients (P = .02). Age at start of medical treatment was 15.6 ± 2.8 years. Forty-three patients (44.3%) presented with significant psychiatric history, including 20 reporting self-mutilation (20.6%) and suicide attempts (9.3%). CONCLUSIONS: After establishment of a multidisciplinary gender clinic, the gender identity disorder population increased fourfold. Complex clinical presentations required additional mental health support as the patient population grew. Mean age and Tanner Stage were too advanced for pubertal suppressive therapy to be an affordable option for most patients. Two-thirds of patients were started on cross-sex hormone therapy. Greater awareness of the benefit of early medical intervention is needed. Psychological and physical effects of pubertal suppression and/or cross-sex hormones in our patients require further investigation.

The development of a gender identity psychosocial clinic: treatment issues, logistical considerations, interdisciplinary cooperation, and future initiatives.

Few interdisciplinary treatment programs that tend to the needs of youth with gender nonconforming behaviors, expressions, and identities exist in academic medical centers with formal residency training programs. Despite this, the literature provides evidence that these youth have higher rates of poor psychosocial adjustment and suicide attempts. This article explores the logistical considerations involved in developing a specialized interdisciplinary service to these gender minority youth in accordance with the existing treatment guidelines.Demographic data will be presented and treatment issues will be explored. The impact that a specialized interdisciplinary treatment program has on clinical expansion, research development, education and training, and community outreach initiatives is discussed.

Endocrine treatment of transsexual persons: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to formulate practice guidelines for endocrine treatment of transsexual persons. EVIDENCE: This evidence-based guideline was developed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to describe the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence, which was low or very low. CONSENSUS PROCESS: Committees and members of The Endocrine Society, European Society of Endocrinology, European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, and World Professional Association for Transgender Health commented on preliminary drafts of these guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Transsexual persons seeking to develop the physical characteristics of the desired gender require a safe, effective hormone regimen that will 1) suppress endogenous hormone secretion determined by the person's genetic/biologic sex and 2) maintain sex hormone levels within the normal range for the person's desired gender. A mental health professional (MHP) must recommend endocrine treatment and participate in ongoing care throughout the endocrine transition and decision for surgical sex reassignment. The endocrinologist must confirm the diagnostic criteria the MHP used to make these recommendations. Because a diagnosis of transsexualism in a prepubertal child cannot be made with certainty, we do not recommend endocrine treatment of prepubertal children. We recommend treating transsexual adolescents (Tanner stage 2) by suppressing puberty with GnRH analogues until age 16 years old, after which cross-sex hormones may be given. We suggest suppressing endogenous sex hormones, maintaining physiologic levels of gender-appropriate sex hormones and monitoring for known risks in adult transsexual persons.

Hypopituitarism in PHACES Association.

The association consisting of posterior fossal malformations, cervicofacial, hemangiomas, arterial anomalies, cardiac defects, eye anomalies, and sternal clefting, or supraumbilical raphe, refers to the occurrence of congenital structural and vascular anomalies in the presence of a facial hemangioma. We report a patient with this association, growth retardation, and developmental delay who was found to have a partially empty sella turcica, central hypothyroidism, and growth hormone deficiency. Endocrinologic evaluation should be considered in any infant with this association.