Transgender individuals' emergency department visits are 52.4 percent more likely to result in hospital admittance, and they are often more ill when they show up to ERs than their cisgender counterparts, according to researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Researchers analyzed information on 66,382 ER visits by transgender patients between 2006 and 2018 from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database. Data were adjusted for payment, age group, region, income and mental health conditions.
There were "significant differences" in the findings between transgender patients and cisgender patients, they wrote.
Here are four other notable findings from the study:
- 58.2 percent of ED visits made by transgender individuals were related to chronic conditions compared to 19.2 percent for cisgender patients.
- 28.7 percent of transgender patients visiting an ED had a mental health condition, compared to 3.9 percent for cisgender patients.
- Hospital admittance following an ED visit for a chronic condition concern was likely to occur for 67.3 percent of transgender patients, and 41.3 percent for cisgender patients.
- Hospital admittance following an ED visit for a mental health concern was likely to occur for 37.2 percent of transgender individuals compared to just 5.3 percent for cisgender people.
"Our findings suggest that decreasing discrimination against transgender people in society and in health care, and improving the outpatient care they are able to access in the community, may keep them healthier and help them avoid visits to the ER," Daphna Stroumsa, MD, lead author of the study from the University of Michigan said in a statement. "Improving access to transgender-friendly health care can improve the health of this population, and help decrease the burden on emergency rooms and hospitals."
However, with continued legislation nationwide that targets the elimination of some healthcare services for transgender individuals, in reaction to the findings from the study, Os Keyes, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington who was not part of the study, but researches transgender healthcare, medical technology, gender and sexuality, and race and equity, told Becker's they agree with the researchers interpretations, but "would like to hear concretely what researchers propose doing about it."
"We have a lot of research demonstrating the need for less discrimination and improvements in how doctors treat trans people," they said, but "it's simultaneously safe to say now is not a time when 'less' is the direction that the discrimination is going in."