NIH-funded study finds puberty blockers show no significant mental health improvement

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study has found that puberty blockers and hormone treatments did not significantly improve the mental health of the children and young adults participating in the research. The study, titled ‘The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth’, was conducted through the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles with a grant of up to $10 million.

The research included participants as young as 8 years old, with those receiving puberty blockers up to age 16 and those receiving hormone treatments up to age 20. The final report noted that over a two-year period of medical intervention, mental health remained ‘relatively stable and was on par with the population at large.’ While the report indicated that suicidality decreased from baseline to 24 months and life satisfaction scores increased, mean scores on mental health measures remained in a ‘clinically non-significant range.’

At the start of the study, approximately half of the participants had clinically concerning scores for depression and anxiety, with two-thirds reporting suicidal thoughts and one-quarter reporting suicide attempts. The report was previously the subject of discussion regarding its publication after concerns were raised that the findings might be ‘weaponized.’