Gender reassignment is harmful for youngsters, says Swedish Health Board

The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has radically changed its view on hormone treatments for minors with gender dysphoria. “The risks outweigh the benefits”, the authority concludes.

Several reports show that hormone treatments of young people lack a scientific basis, SVT Nyheter reports. As a result, no one knows whether the treatments are effective or even whether they are safe.

In November, one of the reports revealed that at least thirteen minors, who have been treated with hormones, showed severe side effects. In total, about 800 children underwent hormone therapies to change their gender.

Earlier, a clinic at Karolinska Hospital in Solna decided to limit hormone treatments. It saw serious side effects, such as cardiovascular disease, infertility, cancer, and thrombotic disease, Dagen writes.

After the research results were published, the National Board of Health and Welfare postponed the publication of its recommendations, SVT Nyheter reports. After publication, the results appear to contain significant changes.

The Board seems to have radically changed its view on hormone treatments. In the last report of 2015, the therapies are described as “safe and secure”. In the new report, the authorities state that the risks of hormone treatments outweigh possible benefits. The Board recommends these treatments only within the framework of research studies.

However, existing studies do not provide sufficient information about the safety and effectiveness of the treatments, the Board writes. “We cannot rule out negative effects, and we do not know whether the treatment is useful”, says the head of the Board, Thomas Lindén, to Assignment Review.

Swedish Agency for medical and Social Evaluation confirms risks

According to SVT Nyheter, the Swedish Agency for Medical and Social Evaluation has confirmed the report results. Due to the uncertainty and risks of the treatments, both guardians and the young people in question must give consent before the therapy starts.

More research is needed, Dagen reports. It concludes from the report that there is no explanation for why the number of youngsters asking for a gender change increased so sharply. Furthermore, it points out that several young adults regret their gender reassignment.

Three months ago, the government, on the other hand, prepared a bill that would lower the age restrictions for a legal gender change, CNE reports. The Ministry of Social Affairs argues that children from 12 years and older should be able to change their gender in public registers.

Dagen points out that medical sciences already knew about the risks of gender reassignment treatments and wonders why the practices continued for so long. “Finding an explanation is important for the future to prevent similar experiments with human life in other areas. But it is even more important that the young people affected are taken care of, even if the side effects cannot be neutralised.”