Long-Term Follow-Up of Individuals Undergoing Sex-Reassignment Surgery: Somatic Morbidity and Cause of Death. 2016

Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
Department of Sexology, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: rikke.kildevaeld@regionh.dk.

BACKGROUND Studies of mortality and somatic well-being after sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) of transsexual individuals are equivocal. Accordingly, the present study investigated mortality and somatic morbidity using a sample of transsexual individuals who comprised 98% (n = 104) of all surgically reassigned transsexual individuals in Denmark. OBJECTIVE To investigate somatic morbidity before and after SRS and cause of death and its relation to somatic morbidity after SRS in Danish individuals who underwent SRS from 1978 through 2010. METHODS Somatic morbidity and mortality in 104 sex-reassigned individuals were identified retrospectively by data from the Danish National Health Register and the Cause of Death Register. METHODS Somatic morbidity and cause of death. RESULTS Overall, 19.2% of the sample were registered with somatic morbidity before SRS and 23.1% after SRS (P = not significant). In total, 8.6% had somatic morbidity before and after SRS. The most common diagnostic category was cardiovascular disease, affecting 18 individuals, 9 before and 14 after SRS, and 5 of those 14 who were affected after SRS had cardiovascular disease before and after SRS. Ten individuals died after SRS at an average age of 53.5 ± 7.9 years (male to female) and 53.5 ± 7.3 years (female to male). CONCLUSIONS Of 98% of all Danish transsexuals who officially underwent SRS from 1978 through 2010, one in three had somatic morbidity and approximately 1 in 10 had died. No significant differences in somatic morbidity or mortality were found between male-to-female and female-to-male individuals. Despite the young average age at death and the relatively larger number of individuals with somatic morbidity, the present study design does not allow for determination of casual relations between, for example, specific types of hormonal or surgical treatment received and somatic morbidity and mortality.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
March 1997, Scandinavian journal of plastic and reconstructive surgery and hand surgery,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
February 2011, PloS one,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
January 1981, Der Nervenarzt,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
January 1976, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
August 1979, Archives of general psychiatry,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
August 2006, Archives of sexual behavior,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
December 1993, Singapore medical journal,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
April 1980, The American journal of psychiatry,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
December 2006, Archives of sexual behavior,
Rikke Kildevæld Simonsen, and Gert Martin Hald, and Ellids Kristensen, and Annamaria Giraldi
May 2022, BJS open,
Copied contents to your clipboard!