Scotland halts prescription of puberty blocking hormones for minors

London — The only gender personality session successful Scotland has paused prescribing puberty blockers to caller patients nether 18 years old, mirroring action taken by England's wellness authorities aft a landmark review found young group had been fto down by "remarkably weak" grounds backing medical interventions successful gender care. 

The report, commissioned by Britain's National Health Service, besides recovered that nan "toxicity" of nan statement astir gender personality meant physicians were operating successful fear.

Dr. Hillary Cass, who led nan reappraisal that produced nan 388-page study published earlier this month, said "we don't person bully evidence" that puberty blockers are safe to usage to forestall changes that travel during puberty.

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"It is different for america to springiness a perchance life-changing curen to young group and not cognize what happens to them successful adulthood, and that's been a peculiar problem, that we haven't had nan follow-up into adulthood to cognize what nan results of this are," Cass told CBS News partner BBC News.

Puberty blockers suppress nan merchandise of hormones that origin puberty. They tin beryllium prescribed to children who are questioning their gender successful bid to extremity beingness changes specified arsenic nan maturation of facial hairsbreadth aliases breasts.

"The adjacent measurement from present is to activity pinch nan Scottish authorities and world partners to make grounds that enables america to present safe attraction for our patients," Emilia Crighton, nan head of nan nationalist wellness work for nan Glasgow region, said successful a statement. "We echo nan views of Dr. Hilary Cass that toxicity astir nationalist statement is impacting nan lives of young group seeking nan attraction of our work and does not service nan teams moving difficult to attraction and support them. We understand nan distress that gender incongruence tin origin and, while each referrals to endocrinology are paused, we will proceed to springiness anyone who is referred into nan young people's gender work nan psychological support that they require while we reappraisal nan pathways successful statement pinch nan findings."

Scottish Trans, an defense group, said it disagreed pinch nan determination to region prescriptions of puberty blockers for minors, which it said "has been taken wrong nan discourse wherever nan reality of trans people's experiences and lives is questioned almost regular successful immoderate of nan media and immoderate governmental circles."

"This makes america interest that nan determination has been influenced by that discourse alternatively than solely done information of nan champion interests of trans children and young people," Scottish Trans said successful a statement, adding that betwixt 2011 and 2023, only 87 young Scottish group were prescribed puberty blockers.

"The exceptionally uncommon and cautious prime of puberty blocker prescription, made for a mini number aft immense waits, is being wrongly painted by immoderate arsenic though it was commonplace and rushed. Nothing could beryllium further from nan truth. We're saddened that this alteration will consequence successful immoderate young group being incapable to entree nan attraction they request astatine all, aliases having to hold moreover longer for it," Scottish Trans said.

Ahead of nan Cass review's publication, nan NHS said successful March that it would extremity prescribing puberty blockers to under-18s astatine gender personality clinics successful England. New young patients successful nan U.K. tin still get a medicine for hormone blockers, but only arsenic portion of a objective trial.

Cass' reappraisal called for amended investigation into nan medications and their semipermanent effects, arsenic good arsenic nan characteristics of children seeking treatment.

"The reality is we person nary bully grounds connected nan semipermanent outcomes of interventions to negociate gender-related distress," she wrote successful nan review.

She encouraged a holistic appraisal of patients, taking into information issues that whitethorn not subordinate to their gender identity, including screening for conditions specified arsenic autism to reside "diagnostic overshadowing" that could hap erstwhile issues of gender are brought up.

"What's unluckily happened for these young group is that, because of nan toxicity of nan debate, they've often been bypassed by section services who've been really tense astir seeing them," Cass told nan BBC. "So, alternatively than doing nan things that they would do for different young group pinch slump aliases anxiety, aliases possibly undiagnosed autistic spectrum disorder, they've tended to walk them consecutive connected to nan GID (Gender Identity Disorder) service."

The Cass reappraisal was commissioned pursuing a crisp emergence successful referrals to gender personality services successful nan U.K., from astir 250 a twelvemonth to much than 5,000 successful 2022.

In:
• Transgender
• LGBTQ+
• Mental Health
• United Kingdom
• Scotland