Evidence Supporting Sex-Change Treatments For Minors Is “Remarkably Weak,” Major UK Report

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The UK’s National Health Service of England has published a major study showing there is “remarkably weak evidence” to support treating gender-questioning children and young adults with sex-change hormones and surgeries, the Washington Times reports. Titled “The Cass Review,” the four-year study was commissioned by the NHS and led by Dr. Hilary Cass.

Explaining that the published research on gender transitioning is of “poor quality,” the Cass Review reported that for most trans-identifying minors and young adults, “a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress.”

“This is an area of remarkably weak evidence, and yet results of studies are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint,” the review reads. “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”

Tackling the popular argument that trans-identifying young people are more prone to suicide if they cannot get sex-change treatment, the report said: “It has been suggested that hormone treatment reduces the elevated risk of death by suicide in this population, but the evidence found did not support this conclusion.”

Going forward, Cass recommended improved training for gender physicians and raising standards for treatment to the same level as that of other medical services, the Washington Times reports. Cass further advised, concerning the administration of sex-change hormones to minors, that there “should be a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18.”

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