HHS Releases Comprehensive Review of Medical Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria

Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Office of Population Affairs, released a comprehensive review of the evidence and best practices for promoting the health of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. This review, informed by an evidence-based medicine approach, reveals serious concerns about medical interventions, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, that attempt to transition children and adolescents away from their sex.

The review highlights a growing body of evidence pointing to significant risks—including irreversible harms such as infertility—while finding very weak evidence of benefit. That weakness has been a consistent finding of systematic reviews of evidence around the world.

The review also fills a gap in the medical literature and existing clinical practice reviews with regard to the ethical aspects of pediatric medical transition. HHS believes that medical ethics should be central in this debate.

Contributors to the review include medical doctors, medical ethicists, and a methodologist. Contributors represent a wide range of political viewpoints and were chosen for their commitment to scientific principles.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children—not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” said NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

Despite increasing pressure to promote these drastic medical interventions for our nation’s youth, the review makes clear: the science and evidence do not support their use, and the risks cannot be ignored.

Chapters of this review were subject to peer review prior to this publication, and a post-publication peer review will begin in the coming days involving stakeholders with different perspectives. Names of the contributors to the review are not initially being made public, in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.