The demand for gender-affirming surgery (GAS) has been growing since 2014, signifying that it has “become an important component of the treatment of gender dysphoria.”
This is according to a study – “Gender Affirmation Surgery on the Rise: Analysis of Trends and Outcomes” by Bachar F. Chaya, Zoe P. Berman, Daniel Boczar, Jorge Trilles, Nicolette V. Siringo, Gustave K. Diep, Ricardo Rodriguez Colon, and Eduardo D. Rodriguez – that appeared in LGBT Health.
For this study, the researchers used the database of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database between the years 2009 and 2018. They specifically used information of all patients with a primary diagnosis of gender dysphoria undergoing GAS, with patient demographics and 30-day postoperative outcomes recorded.
Of 2,956 patients, 1,767 (59.78%) were transgender men and 1,189 (40.22%) were transgender women. And the number of patients undergoing GAS per year increased from seven in 2010 to 1,069 in 2018, a 152-fold increase.
The researchers noted issues, though – i.e. for patients undergoing top surgery, Black race and diabetes were independent predictors of 30-day postoperative complications. Meanwhile, for patients undergoing bottom surgery, total operative time in minutes was an independent predictor of 30-day postoperative complications.
According to the researchers, “while postoperative complication rates are acceptable, Black race was shown to be an independent predictor of postoperative morbidity in patients undergoing top surgery, a finding that calls for further investigation of racial disparities among transgender patients.”
