UNED

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics has analysed bone density in 75 transgender youth who underwent hormone blockade in adolescence, followed by hormone treatment.

Research carried out with almost 300 participants from the United Kingdom and Malta revealed that they had more positive emotions, a willingness to help and less prejudice towards Ukrainian asylum seekers compared to Syrian or Somali refugees. According to the author, whose study is published in PLOS ONE, this is explained because “the perceived threat and negative emotions led to greater prejudice, which in turn led to a lower predisposition toward help.”

An analysis of data published in the journal General Psychiatry with more than 66,000 diagnoses of gender dysphoria, mostly made in the United States, concludes that prevalence increased between 2017 and 2021, and that the median age decreased over the same period from 31 to 26 years.

The International Athletics Federation has decided to ban transgender athletes who have transitioned after puberty from participating in international women's competitions. Although there are currently no trans athletes competing on the international circuit, the Federation "decided to prioritise the fairness and integrity of women's competition before inclusion", according to the statement issued. At a press conference, its president, Sebastian Coe, said: "We will be guided by the science that will inevitably develop in the coming years around physical performance and male advantage. As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position.

A journalistic investigation by BMJ reporter Jennifer Block finds that more and more children and adolescents identify as transgender and are offered medical treatment, in particular in the United States. The reporter analyses scientific evidence showing this increase in the number of treatments, as well as the guidelines of US medical bodies. She also interviews experts from different countries, laying out the controversy among professionals about the scientific evidence used to make decisions about the initiation of treatment.   

A study published in NEJM that followed a cohort of more than 300 transgender and non-binary youth, aged 12-20, for two years concluded that hormone therapy led to improvements in their symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Swedish biologist Svante Pääbo, a specialist in evolutionary genetics, for his discoveries on the genomes of extinct hominids and human evolution.