A new Danish study reinforces medical evidence that transgender people taking cross-sex hormones dramatically increases their chances of developing heart disease.
The study showed that the risk of developing heart disease for biological males and females taking cross-sex hormones was “significantly higher” than those in the control group.
Those on cross-sex hormones were more likely to develop high blood pressure and cholesterol and experience deadly heart attacks and strokes, according to the study.
The highest risk was for biological men taking feminizing hormones, according to an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) news release about the study.
Biological men taking transgender hormones such as estrogen had a 93% increased risk of developing heart ailments compared to men not receiving the hormones, and a 73% greater risk than biological women in a control group.
Biological women taking testosterone had a 63% higher risk of heart disease than women not taking the hormone. They were twice as likely to develop cardiovascular ailments than biological men in a control group.
This winter, researchers at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, Pennsylvania, announced similar findings.
The Danish study adds to growing medical evidence that hormone treatments for people with gender dysphoria—those confused about their sexual identity—could be life-threatening. A push is on in Republican-led states to outlaw the practice for children.
Dr. Eduardo Balbona, an internal medicine specialist in Jacksonville, Florida, told The Epoch Times that he isn’t surprised by the study.
He said he has occasionally seen transgender patients at his practice taking extremely high doses of hormones, adding that he doesn’t judge his patients but that he draws the line at providing “care” that could be lethal.
“You shouldn’t be doing things that are going to kill you,” he said he told one male patient transitioning to a female identity.
He saw some patients taking more than 5 milligrams of estrogen a day—about five times a typical dose.
Medical science has determined that high estrogen levels can increase the chances of developing blood clots that could be fatal if they travel to the lungs or heart.
Dr. Balbona said a male patient was also taking high doses of Spironolactone, a testosterone blocker.
Also used to treat heart failure and other conditions, Spironolactone is typically prescribed at 25-50 milligrams, Dr. Balbona said.
One side effect of the drug, he said, is that it raises potassium levels, which can stop the heart from beating. Anyone on extremely high levels of these drugs should be monitored closely by their prescribing doctor, Dr. Balbona said.
“So they’re giving crazy doses of a drug that can lead to a lethal side effect,” he said.
People with gender dysphoria reject their biological sex and often seek hormones or surgery so their bodies can better reflect the gender with which they identify.
The explosion of transgenderism in the past few years has been called a social contagion by some experts. Critics point to children being exposed to gender ideology in schools and on social media, which leads to social transitioning, hormones, and surgeries that cause sterilization and irreparable harm.
Proponents say that “gender-affirming care,” including hormones and surgeries, saves lives by reducing suicidal tendencies in gender dysphoric people and that physical changes caused by puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are reversible.
But evidence is mounting that hormone “therapy” could be a fatal attraction for those confused about their gender.
In the Danish study, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure were the most common cardiovascular problems observed in transgender study subjects.
The study examined 1,270 biological females and 1,401 biological males identifying as the opposite sex over a five-year period and compared them to a control group of 26,710 not receiving the hormones.
Dr. Dorte Glintborg, with the Department of Endocrinology at Odense University Hospital in Denmark, led the Danish study.
She said findings indicated that long-term data was needed to explore whether other factors could have contributed to increased cardiovascular risk, such as body fat gained by biological males on female hormones, according to the AAAS news release.
“Indeed, it has been discussed that mental support as part of transgender care could relieve minority stress and could be protective against development of cardiovascular disease,” she stated.
This February, researchers at Mercy Catholic Medical Center found that gender dysphoric patients taking hormones were nearly seven times more likely to suffer an ischemic stroke—a blockage in a vessel supplying blood to the brain—than those who weren’t
Likewise, the Mercy study found that those taking hormones were six times more likely to suffer a heart attack and five times more at risk for pulmonary embolism, which blocks an artery in the lungs.
Dr. Ibrahim Ahmed, the study’s lead author and resident at Mercy, said in a release that transgender patients must understand that taking hormones is not a “risk-free endeavor.”
Some, like Dr. Balbona, question the health risks when the outcome doesn’t make transitioners happier in cases he’s seen.
Cutting off body parts and trying to recreate male or female genitalia that isn’t functional is disappointing to them, he said.
“They’re never happy with the body they end up with,” he said.
Bill Pan contributed to this report.
