New Delhi, November 28 (IANS). A research has revealed that long-term sex hormone treatment in transgender individuals can cause significant changes in body structure and especially transgender men can be at risk of heart disease.
Hormone therapy is a gender-affirming medical treatment that helps transgender people change their bodies to match their true gender.
Research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine showed that long-term use of hormone therapy causes changes in fat content over time. The greatest changes in muscle mass and strength occur within just one year of treatment.
The research from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden involved 17 adult transgender men and 16 transgender women. Who were given treatment with testosterone and estrogen.
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they measured blood tests, blood pressure and vascular stiffness while taking into account body composition.
Scans were taken before hormone therapy started, after a year, and again five to six years later to assess differences.
Tommy Lundberg of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Karolinska said the muscle volume of transgender men treated with testosterone increased by an average of 21 percent over six years.
As well as a 70 per cent increase in their belly fat, they also had more fat in their liver and higher levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease.
Lundberg stressed “the need to continue monitoring the long-term health effects of hormone therapy in transgender individuals to prevent heart disease and other health problems.”
“Notably, the study did not find a similar increase in body changes in transgender women who received estrogen treatment,” the researchers said. Their muscle volume decreased by an average of seven percent five years after treatment, while muscle strength remained unchanged. Transgender women had increased total fat but decreased abdominal fat. ,
–IANS
MKS/CBT
