PEER-REVIEWED STUDY FINDS PUBERTY BLOCKERS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVED MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR TRANSGENDER YOUTH

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨TRAHR@quokk.au⁩ to ⁨science@mander.xyz⁩

https://davisvanguard.org/2026/07/puberty-blockers-transyouth-mental-health/

A large, peer-reviewed study published Friday in JAMA Network Open found that transgender youths prescribed puberty blockers had significantly lower adjusted odds of diagnosed mood disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors than transgender youths who did not receive the medications, adding new evidence to one of the most politically contentious areas of pediatric medicine.

The nationwide retrospective cohort study examined insurance claims data from more than 231,000 youths between 2016 and 2025, comparing transgender and cisgender youths who either did or did not receive puberty blockers.

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NOT_RICK@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
ITS NICE TO HAVE CONFIRMATION OF THIS BUT WHY ARE WE YELLING?

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misk@piefed.social ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Actual study without shouting:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2851743

Importantly, puberty blocker prescription was associated with lower odds of mood disorder and suicidality diagnoses, but only among transgender youths. While this result should be studied further and interpreted with caution, it aligns with prior literature10,32,33 and clinical insights.34-36 More research is necessary to determine the mechanisms behind this association; although puberty blocker prescription appeared to attenuate both outcomes, it was not alone associated with diagnostic odds for transgender youths reduced to levels observed among their cisgender peers. Due to limitations of the administrative claims database being analyzed, we could not adjust for factors like psychosocial support, and policy environment measures (eg, regional and national transgender equality) did not appear to be associated with outcomes, although this may reflect measurement error (eg, scores were not available for the full study period or inconsistently measured from year to year).

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- ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I’m not sure how you could possibly isolate being allowed puberty blockers as a child from your family being supportive. It seems like one follows the other, since every (supported) trans child I know of is on track to eventually receive hormones or has already received them, because it’s generally the standard of care if treatment is sought prior to puberty and cross-sex hormones are desired and considered appropriate in the future. Unsupported trans kids don’t get treatment.
  
  The overwhelming majority of the literature in the last 30-ish years have reached similar conclusions over the years, we just don’t know why yet. The important part is to support trans kids, though. It has been shown to produce the best outcomes.
  
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  - misk@piefed.social ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Without a causal link shown it’s just peer reviewed correlation. Yes, there are things to suggest it helps with mental health outcomes but as the paper says directly, this is not a proof and there are other factors at play.
    
    I’m not a fan of scientific studies where correlation is all they can come up with. If correlation alone was what we went by then scientists could propose public policies to reintroduce maritime piracy to decrease global warming, they’re inversely correlated after all.
    
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GenderIsOpSec@hexbear.net ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
shocked-pikachu

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robottoaster@mander.xyz@mander.xyz ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
They’ll just dismiss this the same way they do with every mental health association study, it’s not placebo controlled.

Same thing they did with psychedelic studies, then when they did placebo controlled studies they claimed those weren’t valid because the rather obvious side effects make blinding both pointless and impossible.

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ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Cis kids with precocious puberty may not be the control group they think they are. My only concern is that this could be used to gatekeep puberty blockers by scaremongering, putting the onus on kids to somehow prove they’re trans. I realise giving puberty blockers to prepubescent cis kids instead is probably massively unethical, but

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TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Wow, not forcing bodily changes on people who have said that they don’t want those changes leads to better mental health! Who would’ve guessed??!

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