Increased Rates of Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts Among Transgender Adults Reported Over Two Decades

Suicidal thoughts and attempts by adult transgender individuals were 14 and 22 times higher, respectively, than rates for the general public, according to a new study published in Transgender Health, a peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

In a meta-synthesis of the transgender suicidality literature that included 42 studies published over 19 years, coauthors Noah Adams, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Maaya Hitomi, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, and Cherie Moody, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, reported differences in the rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts between male-to-female and female-to-male transgender respondents and gender non-conforming individuals.

Their findings, presented in the article "Varied Reports of Adult Transgender Suicidality: Synthesizing and Describing the Peer Reviewed and Grey Literature," can help target interventions aimed at suicide protection and support for these at-risk populations.

"Suicidality and other forms of mental health distress are health disparities that increasingly are being documented and studied in the academic literature as disproportionately affecting transgender people and populations," said Editor-in-Chief Robert Garofalo MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Director, Center for Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "With this work, Noah Adams and colleagues advance the field by conducting a meta-analysis giving important epidemiologic data that can then be used to develop interventions designed to help transgender people who are having suicidal thoughts or are experiencing psychological distress."

Transgender Health is the first peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to addressing the healthcare needs of transgender individuals throughout the lifespan and identifying gaps in knowledge as well as priority areas where policy development and research are needed to achieve healthcare equity.

Led by Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, the Journal provides critical coverage of topics including disparities in treatment and barriers to care, health services, cultural competency, mental health and well-being, and hormone therapy and surgery.

To read the original article, visit http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/trgh.2016.0036