'If more people are identifying as transgender, then care must catch up'

04 January 2024 , 17:44

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Better strategies that cater to the needs of transgender people are needed (Image: Getty Images)

Undoubtedly, we’re seeing an increase in the number of ­people who identify as transgender and a new study led by UCL researchers confirms this. The numbers may not look big but they’re significant all the same.

Carrying out the first large-scale study in Britain to estimate the number of people whose gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth (gender dysphoria), the researchers scanned anonymous data from seven million people aged 10 to 99 years old between 2000 and 2018.

They picked up codes suggesting patients had spoken to their GP about gender dysphoria and found, though numbers are very low, there was an increase over the last two decades – rising from about one in 15,000 in 2000 to just over one in 2,500 in 2018 in all age groups.

The rates, however, were highest amongst people aged 16 to 29.

In 2018, around one in every 2,500 people aged 16 to 29 were recorded as transgender. This may be because more transgender people are coming forward to seek care.

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Worryingly, people who identified as transgender were more likely to live in areas of high deprivation where rates were approximately two-and-a-half times higher than the least deprived areas.

Lead author Dr Doug McKechnie, from UCL, said: “We do not know why more individuals from deprived areas had a transgender code in their records, and if this really means that there are more transgender people in those areas, or if they are simply more likely to be recorded as such in the NHS GP records. Transgender people face stigma and discrimination in society, potentially leading to exclusion from employment, education and family support, which may make them more likely to move to deprived areas.

“Some areas might also be more ‘trans friendly’ than others.”

The most recent data used in the study was from 2018. Therefore, researchers estimate that rates of transgender identity in general practice will have changed – and likely increased – in the years since.

The number of transgender people is likely to be more than the study reveals. Partly that’s because the codes depend on the person contacting their GP in the first instance and many don’t. And partly because the data doesn’t fully capture the range of gender identities such as non-binary or genderqueer identities.

Furthermore, the data contains various terms that are now outdated or misapplied.

One thing is clear – we must develop strategies that cater to the needs of transgender people. And now.

Miriam Stoppard