Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33644622›Full record

ReviewJournal of the Endocrine Society2021

Hormone Therapy, Mental Health, and Quality of Life Among Transgender People: A Systematic Review.

Kellan E Baker, Lisa M Wilson, Ritu Sharma, Vadim Dukhanin, Kristen McArthur, Karen A Robinson

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of the Endocrine Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
131citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
44.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

131 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 290 citations in OpenAlex.

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  15. 'I Would Feel Failed By the Medical Community Entirely': Transgender Americans' Calls for Advocacy From Health Professionals in a Care-Restricted World.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026
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71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kellan E BakerDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9716-7936
Lisa M WilsonDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Ritu SharmaDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Vadim DukhaninDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Kristen McArthurDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Karen A RobinsonDepartment of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Johns Hopkins University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We sought to systematically review the effect of gender-affirming hormone therapy on psychological outcomes among transgender people. We searched PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO through June 10, 2020 for studies evaluating quality of life (QOL), depression, anxiety, and death by suicide in the context of gender-affirming hormone therapy among transgender people of any age. We excluded case studies and studies reporting on less than 3 months of follow-up. We included 20 studies reported in 22 publications. Fifteen were trials or prospective cohorts, one was a retrospective cohort, and 4 were cross-sectional. Seven assessed QOL, 12 assessed depression, 8 assessed anxiety, and 1 assessed death by suicide. Three studies included trans-feminine people only; 7 included trans-masculine people only, and 10 included both. Three studies focused on adolescents. Hormone therapy was associated with increased QOL, decreased depression, and decreased anxiety. Associations were similar across gender identity and age. Certainty in this conclusion is limited by high risk of bias in study designs, small sample sizes, and confounding with other interventions. We could not draw any conclusions about death by suicide. Future studies should investigate the psychological benefits of hormone therapy among larger and more diverse groups of transgender people using study designs that more effectively isolate the effects of hormone treatment.

Indexed as

hormone therapymental healthsex hormonessystematic reviewTransgender

Identifiers

PMID33644622
PMCPMC7894249
OpenAlexW3128499532

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.