Citation

McDeavitt K. Pediatrics 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, American Academy of Pediatrics)

DOI

10.1542/peds.2024-065783A

PMID

38545683

Abstract

The authors of "Prohibition of Gender-Affirming Care as a Form of Child Maltreatment: Reframing the Discussion"1 state that GAC "does not cause harm" and "decreases many negative health outcomes, including rates of depression." No relevant citations are provided for this claim. Although youth GAC has the support of the professional medical community in the United States,2,-4 that does not mean there is no risk of harm. Infertility, lack of development of genital tissue, problems with sexual functioning, psychosocial/cognitive delay, decrease in bone mineral density accrual, and the known side effect profiles of estrogen and testosterone (eg, thrombotic events, cardiovascular disease, etc) are all potential risks associated with the hormonal agents used in youth GAC.5 Furthermore, systematic reviews6,-9 have found the quality of evidence in this field is low, meaning the literature does not actually show, with any reasonable degree of...

Language: en