Hormone Therapy for Transgender Women Increase Risk of Blood Clot

Improve Quality of Life with Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy consists of taking medicines containing female hormones to replace for the lost hormones the body no longer makes/insufficiently makes. This is often prescribed after menopause as a relief for menopausal syndromes such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes. Hormone therapy is also prescribed to reduce bone loss, avoid fracture and help transgender people align their secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity. Hormone treatments in such people are gaining popularity and increasingly used by many individuals as these treatments are accepted to be safe and increase overall well-being in most cases. But, using such hormone treatment calls for the need of lifelong medical support and care.

While hormone treatment in transgender people (called as transgender hormone therapy) is mostly done by clinics that specialize in this, some people start the treatment on their own without any prescription due to improper medical facilities or lack of funds.

Study

A new study shows that transgender women on hormone therapy may be at a higher risk for cardiovascular problems such as stroke, blood clots and heart attacks. Transgender women are those who were assigned male at birth but identify as women and transgender men are those who were assigned female at birth but identify as men. Hormone therapy for transgender women basically focuses on feminizing patients by rearranging fat distribution, breast formation and reducing hair growth that is seen among male. This study was a large-scaled one that analyzed eight years of medical records of almost 5,000 transgender patients and specifically focused on those patients over the age of 18 who took these hormones for gender transition. These people were compared to the study results of over 97,000 cisgender patients (patients whose sex assigned at birth match their gender identity. By avoiding the term ‘normal’ individuals, we avoid hurting the feelings of transgender individuals) whose age and health graph were similar. Researchers bet that this study was the largest one done on the health of transgender individuals on hormone therapy.

The analyses showed that transgender women assigned the male sex at birth were twice as likely as cisgender men or women to suffer from venous thromboembolism. Venous thromboembolism is a blood clot that starts in a vein whose main common triggers are surgery, cancer, pregnancy, use of oral contraceptives or estrogen replacement for menopause or hormone deficiency. Be informed about this disease and take precautionary measures to save yourself from it by visiting the website www.firsteatright.com. Transgender women on hormone therapy were 80-90% likelier to suffer from stroke or heart attack than cisgender women. Also, two years after starting the therapy the clot risk increased by five-folds compared to non-transgender men and three-folds compared to non-transgender women. Nothing similar to such risk were found among transgender men on hormone therapy. While it always remains that women are at a decreased risk of stroke and heart attack compared to men, the risk of stroke or heart attack in the case of transgender women remains the same as they would have been if these individuals had not transitioned.  

While earlier studies measured cardiovascular risk of estrogen therapy on menopausal women, this study showed significant differences.

State of Mind

Transgender individuals find it difficult to balance between their biological sex and self-identified sex. They mostly struggle from depression, societal pressure and mood swings for which hormone therapy is the perfect solution. It improves a transgender patient’s quality of life and has a positive impact on sexual function, mood and physiological stress as well. For many transgender patients, hormone therapy becomes the ultimate solution to help them align their sex with their gender identity.

Although the study does conclude with a note that the effects of estrogen on cardiovascular disease in transgender women are not 100% correct, there are possible leads and statistics that show an increased risk of heart disease. While there are positive outcomes connected with hormone therapy, it is essential that one considers all pros and cons before seeking a solution.