Study shows higher risk of suicide for transgender people – 06/28/2023 – Health

Trans people in Denmark have a significantly higher risk of committing suicide than other groups, according to an exhaustive analysis of the legal and health records of nearly 7 million people over the last four decades. The study is the first in the world to analyze national suicide data from this group.

Trans people in the Nordic country had 7.7 times more suicide attempts and 3.5 times more deaths from suicide compared to the rest of the population, according to records analyzed in the study, although suicide rates in all groups declined over time. And trans people in Denmark have died —by suicide or other causes—at younger ages than others.

“This is definitely a big issue that needs to be addressed,” said Morten Frisch, a sexual health epidemiologist at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and a co-author of the new study.

The findings, published this Tuesday (27) in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come at a charged political moment in the United States, where Republican lawmakers across the country have enacted laws targeting sexuality and gender identity, restricting performances of cross-dressing, bathroom use for transgender people, and gender-related medical treatments.

Studies of LGBTQ+ people in the United States have shown that they have high rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts, putting them at high risk of death by suicide. But with scarce data on actual deaths, suicide risk has become a matter of speculation and heated debate. Some Republicans have argued that suicides among transgender people are rare, while some LGBTQ+ advocates have stated that the new laws could drive more young transgender people to commit suicide.

“This presents a complete rebuttal to some of the political arguments that suggest that suicide risk in these groups is exaggerated,” said Ann Haas, a professor emeritus at the City University of New York who has studied suicide risk among LGBTQ+ people for two decades.

But, added Haas, “this is not the time to use data for any political recrimination.”

The United States, like most countries, does not have information about the sexual orientation or gender identity of people who die violently, because this information is not recorded on death certificates. Some investigators are trying to collect this data by interviewing friends and family of the dead, although progress has been slow.

Denmark, however, has a centralized data repository for all citizens, allowing researchers to conduct massive and strictly controlled studies.

The authors of the new report identified nearly 3,800 transgender people in Denmark, drawing data from two sources: hospital records and requests for legal gender reassignment. In that group, nearly 43% had a psychiatric diagnosis, compared to 7% in the non-trans group.

The study identified 92 suicide attempts and 12 suicide deaths in the transgender group between 1980 and 2021, a rate considerably higher than that found in the non-transgender group. The researchers said there were likely other suicides that weren’t captured in the data because no records indicated the person’s gender identity. The study also found that the rate of other non-suicidal deaths in the trans group was nearly double the rate in the non-trans group.

The United States and Denmark have comparable suicide rates — 14 per 100,000 people across the entire population — suggesting that the study’s findings may also apply in the United States, the researchers said.

“Trans people face widespread poverty and discrimination, are more likely to be homeless, are overrepresented in the nation’s prison system and welfare system,” said Gillian Branstetter, communications strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union, which focuses on transgender rights. “This material lack has very real consequences in their lives, including premature deaths.”

But the researchers cautioned against drawing overly broad conclusions about the calculated rates. For one thing, the raw number of suicides and attempts among transgender people was small.

Based on their research tools, researchers found that approximately 0.06% of the Danish population was transgender. In contrast, the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles has estimated, using survey data, that the number of people identifying as transgender in the United States is ten times higher. This could mean that many transgender people in Denmark — especially the growing number of young people who identify as trans or non-binary — were not included in the data, and perhaps the true suicide rate differs from what is reported, the researchers said.

“These surveys tend to include much broader spectrums of trans individuals, and we can’t be sure that our results are as problematic in the broader group,” Frisch said.

WHERE TO GET SERVICE?

Psychosocial Care Network
Map shows network units authorized by the Ministry of Health until September 2020

Mental Health Map
Website maps different types of care: www.mapasaudemental.com.br

CVV (Life Appreciation Center)
Volunteers answer toll-free calls 24 hours a day at the number 188: www.cvv.org.br.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves