'Overwhelmingly low' levels of regret following gender-affirming surgery

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-10 01:00

International

PHOTO: Alexander Grey/Unsplash

US researchers examined long-term rates of regret and satisfaction of people who underwent a gender-affirming mastectomy over the past 30 years. Of the 235 patients who qualified to be studied, none requested or underwent a reversal procedure. The 139 patients who agreed to be surveyed reported high levels of satisfaction and levels of regret so low that researchers were unable to perform a statistical analysis on characteristics linked to different outcomes. They cite previous research examining levels of patient regret after other medical procedures and found only one study on urinary incontinence where patients reported an even lower level of decisional regret.

Media release

From: JAMA

In this survey study, the results of validated survey instruments indicated low rates of decisional regret and high levels of satisfaction with decision following gender-affirming mastectomy. The lack of dissatisfaction and regret impeded the ability to perform a more complex statistical analysis, highlighting the need for condition-specific instruments to assess decisional regret and satisfaction with decision following gender-affirming surgery.

Journal/
conference: JAMA Surgery

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, USA; Michigan Institute for Clinical Health Research, USA; Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, USA; Seattle Children’s Hospital, USA

Funder: Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Ms Bruce and Dr Morrison reported receiving grants from The Plastic Surgery Foundation during the conduct of the study. Dr Lane reported receiving salary support via an F32 training grant (F32HS028748-01) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported. Funding/Support: This work was supported by a pilot grant (923995) from The Plastic Surgery Foundation (Drs Khouri, Ms Bruce, and Dr Morrison). Biostatistical support was provided by funding from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (grant UM1TR004404) for the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research. Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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