{"id":1684536,"date":"2022-10-12T06:38:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T10:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1684536"},"modified":"2022-10-12T06:38:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T10:38:59","slug":"researcher-debunks-claims-that-gender-surgeries-increase-wellbeing-among-trans-identified-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/researcher-debunks-claims-that-gender-surgeries-increase-wellbeing-among-trans-identified-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Debunks Claims That Gender Surgeries Increase Wellbeing Among Trans-Identified Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fresearcher-debunks-claims-that-gender-surgeries-increase-wellbeing-among-trans-identified-youth%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1684536&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p><span>Claims that scientific studies show clear mental health benefits of \u201cgender affirming\u201d medical treatments for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/new-insurance-data-reveals-shocking-number-of-minors-obtained-transgender-surgeries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trans-identifying youth<\/a> are exaggerated and misleading, according to a new analysis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeorSapir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Leor Sapir<\/span><\/a><span>, a fellow at the <\/span><span>Manhattan Institute<\/span><span>, found that claims of causality frequently cited by news outlets are not supported by evidence, and that some of the studies commonly touted as demonstrating positive mental health outcomes show no or possibly even negative association between hormones and mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a recent article published in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.realityslaststand.com\/p\/the-distortions-in-jack-turbans-psychology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Reality\u2019s Last Stand<\/span><\/a><i><span>,<\/span><\/i><span> a popular Substack dedicated to the sex and gender debate, Sapir responded to a January Psychology Today <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/political-minds\/202201\/the-evidence-trans-youth-gender-affirming-medical-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a> by activist researcher Dr. Jack Turban,<\/span><span>\u00a0which is cited widely among trans activists to support the medical transition in minors. Turban\u2019s article references 16<\/span><span>\u00a0studies that purportedly show so-called gender affirming care for trans youth \u201cresults in favorable mental health outcomes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe language of \u2018results in\u2019 can easily lead the reader to believe that hormonal interventions cause improved mental health,\u201d said Sapir, who is concerned that <\/span><span>activists use articles like Turban\u2019s to chill debate on the health care needs of transgender-identified youth.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Despite being fresh out of his residency and having far less clinical experience than many other experts calling for a more cautious approach to managing gender dysphoria in youth, Turban is widely and frequently quoted by popular mainstream outlets as an authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cDr. Jack Turban is one of the leading proponents of the controversial protocol known as \u2018gender affirming care\u2019 and has been outspoken in the American media promoting puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to manage gender-related distress in youth,\u201d said Sapir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sapir broke down the 16 studies Turban relied upon and determined that Turban oversold or misrepresented the strength of evidence in order to mislead his readers into embracing the controversial \u201cgender affirmation\u201d protocol. <\/span><span>Several of the studies were short-term follow-ups, which by definition cannot capture long-term feelings about medical transition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two of the most frequently cited studies are from scientists in the Netherlands, who developed the so-called \u201cDutch protocol.\u201d But the Dutch protocol differs from the American \u201cgender affirming\u201d model in that it involves heavily screening candidates. The American approach is designed to <\/span><i><span>reduce<\/span><\/i><span> \u201cgatekeeping\u201d by entreating clinicians to deferring to patients\u2019 own self-diagnosis. In the U.S., most pediatric patients referred to gender clinics today appear to be females with no prepubertal history of dysphoria and very high rates of mental health problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe more the validity of the Dutch study is played up, and by extension the selection criteria for hormones made stringent, the less applicable its findings to the majority of those who seek medical transition today<\/span><b>,<\/b><span>\u201d said Sapir.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Because of their highly selective vetting process, the Dutch studies were shown to have selection bias.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201cFor their research on puberty blockers, the Dutch team excluded from the outset cases that would have cast doubt on the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers. It is hard to imagine a more obvious example of selection bias,\u201d said Sapir,\u00a0relying on the work of Levine, Abbruzzese and Mason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Although the Dutch studies are characterized by Turban as following different, if overlapping groups, they actually used the same cohort and followed up after only 18 months, Sapir said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201cThis time frame is hardly enough to pick up on whether the procedures are ultimately to the benefit of the patients,\u201d said Sapir. \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10508-014-0300-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Two<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jsm.jsexmed.org\/article\/S1743-6095(18)30057-2\/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>studies<\/span><\/a><span> found that the average time to regret is around 10 years\u2014and keep in mind that almost all the data in these studies comes from those who transitioned <\/span><i><span>as<\/span><\/i> <i><span>adults <\/span><\/i><span>and were gathered <\/span><i><span>before<\/span><\/i><span> the \u2018affirming\u2019 model and its hostility to safeguards became widespread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another issue Sapir pointed out with the studies Turban cited is one of \u201cconfounding factors.\u201d Many of the studies that were designed to find out whether medical transition improves mental health could not adequately do so because the patients were also receiving psychiatric medication, counseling, and coming from a supportive family environment, all things that are independently shown to improve mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Replication, getting the same result when an experiment is repeated, is extremely important in science, <\/span><span>and one of the key ways scientists build confidence in the validity of their results. The<\/span><span> results of the Dutch studies have still never been replicated, and the only attempt to do so by researchers in the UK yielded very different conclusions. The 2021 British study results actually found increases in \u201cinternalizing problems and body dissatisfaction\u201d following puberty suppression, according to one report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe fact that a team of researchers in the U.K. tried to apply the eligibility criteria and treatment protocols of the Dutch team to a cohort with similar characteristics but failed to observe the same outcome substantially weakens the claims of the original study,\u201d said Sapir.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Turban seems to find small sample sizes to be a problem only in studies whose results weaken confidence in the gender affirming model, Sapir said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201cIt appears that sample size is only flagged as an issue when results don\u2019t support Turban\u2019s favored conclusion\u2014 a good demonstration of his confirmation bias,\u201d said Sapir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTurban also likes to say that \u2018all experts agree\u2019 with the \u2018gender affirming\u2019 model\u2014a statement that is only true if you define \u2018expert,\u2019 in No True Scotsman-like fashion, as only someone who agrees with Turban,\u201d said Sapir, while health authorities in Sweden, Finland, and the U.K. have unanimously concluded after systematic reviews of evidence for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, that the risks and uncertainties outweigh any known benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A 2019 Finnish study cited by Turban was used in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/gender-affirming-care-improves-mental-health-and-may-save-lives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>a <\/span><span>WIRED<\/span><span> article<\/span><\/a><span> by Grace Huckins to promote the unfounded belief that \u201cgender affirming\u201d hormones are effective suicide-prevention methods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, the lead author of that study, rejected Huckins\u2019 interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201c[Huckins\u2019 piece] is a total mischaracterization of our research!\u201d Kaltiala said. \u201cWe said practically the opposite: gender affirming hormones did not reduce psychiatric problems or improve the adolescents\u2019 functional level.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another study Turban cited in his article was conducted by researchers at the <a href=\"https:\/\/thepostmillennial.com\/university-of-washington-busted-covering-up-negative-study-findings-for-teens-receiving-gender-affirming-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Washington<\/a>. But in August, it was revealed that the school<\/span><span>\u00a0deliberately withheld information that would damage its reputation and public standing. UW Medicine was caught distorting the results of a study on \u201cgender affirming\u201d care outcomes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Researchers at UW Medicine found that the use of puberty blockers and hormones didn\u2019t improve the mental health of trans-identified teens, but published a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2789423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>study claiming<\/span><\/a><span> they did. Internal emails reveal that when the researchers were caught, officials at UW Medicine and Seattle Children\u2019s Hospital advised each other against correcting the misinformation they put out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThanks to the science journalists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jessesingal.substack.com\/p\/the-university-of-washington-is-putting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Jesse Singal<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/3602854\/rantz-despite-concerning-trans-study-uw-kept-quiet-because-of-positive-coverage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Jason Rantz<\/span><\/a><span>, we now have confirmation that the UW knew that the study did not in fact find any causality but covered up this inconvenient fact due to the warm glow of positive media coverage,\u201d said Sapir.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When the media tout studies that only track outcomes for a period of sometimes as low as a few months, but claim that \u201cgender affirming\u201d hormones and surgeries are medically necessary and lifesaving, there is ample ground for skepticism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Short-term follow-up studies for gender-related surgeries in adults typically showing a low rate of regret (1 percent) have very short follow-up times and often ask very narrow questions. For example, they may ask questions about satisfaction with the results of the surgery, rather than satisfaction overall with the medical transition. These studies are not applicable to teenagers but are often used to dismiss requests for caution in allowing minors to medically transition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0016885\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>long-term study<\/span><\/a><span> on adults in Sweden shows that 10 to 15 years after sex-reassignment surgery, the suicide rate of those patients was 19 times that of comparable peers. To date, no long-term studies on minors transitioned under the \u201cgender affirming\u201d approach exist, as it is a relatively new phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Claims that scientific studies show clear mental health benefits of \u201cgender affirming\u201d medical treatments for trans-identifying youth are exaggerated and misleading, according to a new analysis.\u00a0Leor Sapir, a fellow at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1683835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1684536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1684536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1683835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1684536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1684536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1684536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}