ArticleJAMA network open2026
Mental Health of Youths Who Use Puberty Blockers.
Article in JAMA network open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: Puberty blockers are an established, reversible intervention for central precocious puberty in children and gender dysphoria in adolescents. Despite broad clinical support, these treatments are currently politically contested. Objective: To characterize the mental health of transgender youths prescribed puberty blockers compared with cisgender peers who received these medications for treatment of precocious puberty and with transgender and cisgender youths who did not receive these medications. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study used data from a US nationwide, multipayer claims database from January 2016 to January 2025. Youths aged 10 to 17 years were categorized into 4 cohorts based on gender modality (transgender or cisgender) and prescription of a puberty blocker (yes or no). Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnoses of mood disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Inverse probability-weighted generalized estimating equation models were fit to obtain adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs, adjusting for demographics, payer type, region, year, socioeconomic disadvantage, and policy environment indices. In demographics, female gender marker is used to indicate that an F (female) has been applied as a marker for the individual by some entity (eg, a medical professional or government body). Results: Among 231 783 youths in the analytical sample, 41 472 youths (17.89%) were transgender (median [IQR] age at baseline, 9.00 [7.00-11.00] years; 31 246 with female gender marker [75.34%]) and 190 311 youths (82.11%) were cisgender (median [IQR] age at baseline, 8.00 [6.00-10.00] years; 128 942 with female gender marker [67.75%]). Being transgender was associated with higher odds of mood disorder diagnosis (aOR, 4.42 [95% CI, 4.24-4.60]) and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (aOR, 12.21 [95% CI, 10.69-13.95]) compared with being cisgender. Being prescribed a puberty blocker was associated with higher odds of mood disorder diagnosis (aOR, 2.11 [95% CI, 2.02-2.19]) and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (aOR, 3.04 [95% CI, 2.65-3.49]) compared with no prescription. However, among transgender youths, prescription of a puberty blocker was associated with decreased adjusted odds of mood disorder diagnosis (aOR, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.45-0.60]) and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (aOR, 0.20 [95% CI, 0.14-0.29]). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, transgender youths overall had substantially higher rates of diagnosed mood disorder and suicidal thoughts and behaviors than their cisgender peers, highlighting the need for population-specific interventions. Prescription of a puberty blocker was associated with partial attenuation of this disparity, suggesting mental health benefits associated with this treatment for transgender youth.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.