Study results into puberty blocker drugs prescribed as a treatment to transgender people will not be published just yet says lead researcher Dr Johanna Olson-Kennedy.
She is concerned the US federal-funded research findings could be “weaponised” to oppose gender-transition drugs for minors, as the debate over “gender-affirming care” reverberates through political and medical spheres.
“I do not want our work to be weaponised” she says. “It has to be exactly on point, clear and concise. And that takes time.”
She will publish when she’s ready. But right now, she says her team has been delayed over National Institute of Health (NIH) funding cuts to the project, which the NIH denied.
The research
Olson-Kennedy began the study in 2015 as part of a broader federal-funded project on transgender health. She and her team sought to mirror the Dutch Protocol, as its research results have never been replicated.
The Dutch protocol – a paper published in 2006 – found children whose gender dysphoria was treated with puberty blockers had better mental health outcomes.
It helped spur the worldwide explosion of gender youth clinics, where children who identify as the opposite sex may be treated with puberty blocker drugs, cross-sex hormones and surgeries.
Despite the Dutch Protocol’s claims that children would experience decreased depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, Olson-Kennedy and her team’s results contradict this.
They found after two years research, the mental health of the subjects — 95 adolescents with an average age of 11 — who received puberty blockers didn’t change much.
“They’re in really good shape when they come in, and they’re in really good shape after two years” says Olson-Kennedy.
Although she has found mental health remains unchanged, Olson-Kennedy says puberty blocker drugs have their place in treatment options for transgender youth.
She says she has “prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments to transgender children and adolescents for 17 years” and has seen “how profoundly beneficial they can be”.
The Washington Times challenged her assertion about young transgender people’s mental health however, citing a 2020 progress report showing about one-quarter of the children suffered from depression and one-quarter reported thoughts of suicide.
Suppression criticised
Olson-Kennedy’s refusal to publish her part of the research into the overall transgender health report has caused an outcry on social media.
Critics are accusing the researchers and the agency of placing activism over scientific evidence.
“This is not science. This is activism and the NIH should not be funding it” – Camilo Ortiz, a professor of clinical psychology at Long Island University, wrote on X.
“A real scientist accepts what the data show and has an allegiance to the truth.”
The NIH is not concerned that – despite being provided the research funds – Olson-Kennedy won’t be publishing her results.
The agency leaves it to researchers to decide how and when to publish their results although they are encouraged to do so, a spokesperson told the Washington Times.
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