Endocrinology & Diabetes

Transgender: Medicine and Research

Transgender is an umbrella term for a diverse group of people such as trans women (male-to-female) and trans men (female-to-male), genderqueer individuals, and many others whose gender identity or expression differs from societal expectations of how they should look, act, or identify based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender and other gender minority people are often the targets of discrimination and harassment that can lead to negative health outcomes. The term “gender nonconforming” is used to describe individuals whose gender identity, role, or expression differs from what is normative for their assigned sex at birth in a given culture and historical period.

Transgender is used as an umbrella term to describe individuals whose gender identity differs from the assigned sex at birth. Transgender males are people assigned female at birth but who self-identify as male. Transgender females are people assigned male at birth, but who self-identify as female. Transgender individuals are often denied insurance coverage for appropriate medical and psychological treatment. Over the last decade, there has been considerable research on and development of evidence-based standards of care that have proven to be both safe and efficacious for the treatment of gender dysphoria/gender incongruence. There is also a growing understanding of the impact that increased access to such treatments can have on the mental health of these individuals.