Transgender medical research, provider education, and patient access are overdue

摘要

Transgender individuals have gender identities that do not correlate with their biological sex. Although the data are rudimentary, one study suggests 0.3% of the American population or approximately 900,000 individuals are trans-gender (1). Transgender patients suffer unacceptably high barriers to medical care (2), with lack of physician knowledge and failure of insurance companies to cover treatment representing the largest barriers to that care (3). Thus, transgender patients, already stigmatized by societal discomfort with sexual issues, might incur additional risk by seeking treatment from dubious sources or inexperienced healthcare providers.