Background Over the past decade, the number of people referred to gender identity clinics has rapidly increased. This raises several questions, especially concerning the frequency of performing gender-affirming treatments with irreversible effects and regret from such interventions. Aim To study the current prevalence of gender dysphoria, how frequently gender-affirming treatments are performed, and the number of people experiencing regret of this treatment. Methods The medical files of all people who attended our gender identity clinic from 1972 to 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. Outcomes The number of (and change in) people who applied for transgender health care, the percentage of people starting with gender-affirming hormonal treatment (HT), the estimated prevalence of transgender people receiving gender-affirming treatment, the percentage of people who underwent gonadectomy, and the percentage of people who regretted gonadectomy, specified separately for each year. Results 6,793 people (4,432 birth-assigned male, 2,361 birth-assigned female) visited our gender identity clinic from 1972 through 2015. The number of people assessed per year increased 20-fold from 34 in 1980 to 686 in 2015. The estimated prevalence in the Netherlands in 2015 was 1:3,800 for men (transwomen) and 1:5,200 for women (transmen). The percentage of people who started HT within 5 years after the 1st visit decreased over time, with almost 90% in 1980 to 65% in 2010. The percentage of people who underwent gonadectomy within 5 years after starting HT remained stable over time (74.7% of transwomen and 83.8% of transmen). Only 0.6% of transwomen and 0.3% of transmen who underwent gonadectomy were identified as experiencing regret. Clinical Implications Because the transgender population is growing, a larger availability of transgender health care is needed. Other health care providers should familiarize themselves with transgender health care, because HT can influence diseases and interact with medication. Because not all people apply for the classic treatment approach, special attention should be given to those who choose less common forms of treatment. Strengths and Limitations This study was performed in the largest Dutch gender identity clinic, which treats more than 95% of the transgender population in the Netherlands. Because of the retrospective design, some data could be missing. Conclusion The number of people with gender identity issues seeking professional help increased dramatically in recent decades. The percentage of people who regretted gonadectomy remained small and did not show a tendency to increase.
Obesity is an important risk factor for insulin resistance and hypertension and plays a central role in the metabolic syndrome. Insight into the pathophysiology of this syndrome may lead to new treatments. This paper has reviewed the evidence for an important role for the microcirculation as a possible link between obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension.
Increased CHD risk is associated with an impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and capillary recruitment in skin, suggesting that microvascular function in skin is a valid model to study the relationships between cardiovascular risk factors and microvascular function.
Background-Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing microangiopathy, hypertension, and insulin resistance. We hypothesized that obesity is a primary cause of microvascular dysfunction, which may contribute to the development of these obesity-related disorders. Methods and Results-We examined microvascular function in 16 lean (body mass index Ͻ24 kg/m
Concerns about the effects of gender‐affirming hormonal treatment (HT) on bone mineral density (BMD) in transgender people exist, particularly regarding the decrease in estrogen concentrations in transmen. Although it is known that HT is safe for BMD in the short term, long‐term follow‐up studies are lacking. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the change in BMD during the first 10 years of HT, to determine whether HT is safe and if assessing BMD during HT is necessary. A follow‐up study was performed in adult transgender people receiving HT at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam between 1998 and 2016. People were included if they were HT naive and had a dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan at the start of HT. Follow‐up DXA scans performed after 2, 5, and/or 10 years of HT were used for analyses. The course of BMD of the lumbar spine during the first 10 years of HT was analyzed using multilevel analyses. A total of 711 transwomen (median age 35 years; IQR, 26 to 46 years) and 543 transmen (median age 25 years; IQR, 21 to 34 years) were included. Prior to the start of HT, 21.9% of transwomen and 4.3% of transmen had low BMD for age (Z‐score < –2.0). In transwomen lumbar spine BMD did not change (+0.006; 95% CI, –0.005 to +0.017), but lumbar spine Z‐score increased by +0.22 (95% CI, +0.12 to +0.32) after 10 years of HT. Also in transmen lumbar spine BMD did not change (+0.008; 95% CI, –0.004 to +0.019), but lumbar spine Z‐score increased by +0.34 (95% CI, +0.23 to +0.45) after 10 years of HT. This study showed that HT does not have negative effects on BMD, indicating that regularly assessing BMD during HT is not necessary. However, a high percentage of low BMD was found prior to HT, especially in transwomen. Therefore, evaluation of BMD before start of HT may be considered. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
To test the hypothesis that free fatty acids (FFAs) modulate microvascular function and that this contributes to obesity-associated insulin resistance, hypertension, and microangiopathy, we examined the effects of both FFA elevation in lean women and FFA lowering in obese women on skin microvascular function. A total of 16 lean and 12 obese women underwent, respectively, Intralipid plus heparin (or saline) infusion and overnight acipimox (or placebo) treatment. We measured capillary recruitment with capillaroscopy and endothelium-(in)dependent vasodilation by iontophoresis of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside before and during hyperinsulinemia (40 mU ⅐ m ؊2 ⅐ min ؊1 ). FFA elevation impaired capillary recruitment and acetylcholinemediated vasodilation before (44.6 ؎ 16.8 vs. 56.9 ؎ 18.9%, P < 0.05; and 338 ؎ 131 vs. 557 ؎ 162%, P < 0.01, respectively) and during (54.0 ؎ 21.3 vs. 72.4 ؎ 25.4%, P < 0.01; and 264 ؎ 186 vs. 685 ؎ 199%, P < 0.01, respectively) hyperinsulinemia. FFA lowering improved capillary recruitment before (50.9 ؎ 14.6 vs. 37.4 ؎ 9.3%, P < 0.01) and during (66.8 ؎ 20.6 vs. 54.8 ؎ 15.4%, P < 0.05) hyperinsulinemia. Changes in FFA levels were inversely associated with changes in capillary recruitment and insulin sensitivity in lean (r ؍ ؊0.46, P ؍ 0.08; and r ؍ ؊0.56, P ؍ 0.03) and in obese (r ؍ ؊0.70, P ؍ 0.02; and r ؍ ؊0.62, P ؍ 0.04) women. Regression analyses showed that changes in capillary recruitment statistically explained ϳ29% of the association between changes in FFA levels and insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, FFA levels modulate microvascular function and may contribute to obesityassociated insulin resistance, hypertension, and microangiopathy. Diabetes 53
Objective: To what extent endogenous subclinical thyroid disorders contribute to impaired physical and cognitive function, depression, and mortality in older individuals remains a matter of debate. Design: A population-based, prospective cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Methods: TSH and, if necessary, thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels were measured in individuals aged 65 years or older. Participants were classified according to clinical categories of thyroid function. Participants with overt thyroid disease or use of thyroid medication were excluded, leaving 1219 participants for analyses. Outcome measures were physical and cognitive function, depressive symptoms (cross-sectional), and mortality (longitudinal) Results: Sixty-four (5.3%) individuals had subclinical hypothyroidism and 34 (2.8%) individuals had subclinical hyperthyroidism. Compared with euthyroidism (nZ1121), subclinical hypo-, and hyperthyroidism were not significantly associated with impairment of physical or cognitive function, or depression. On the contrary, participants with subclinical hypothyroidism did less often report more than one activity limitation (odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22-0.86). After a median follow-up of 10.7 years, 601 participants were deceased. Subclinical hypo-and hyper-thyroidism were not associated with increased overall mortality risk (hazard ratio 0.89, 95% CI 0.59-1.35 and 0.69, 95% CI 0.40-1.20 respectively). Conclusions: This study does not support disadvantageous effects of subclinical thyroid disorders on physical or cognitive function, depression, or mortality in an older population.
BackgroundRandomised controlled trials (RCTs) of vitamin D to prevent COPD exacerbations have yielded conflicting results.Individual participant data meta-analysis could identify factors that explain this variation.MethodsPubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Web of Science were searched from inception up to and including 5 October 2017 to identify RCTs of vitamin D supplementation in patients with COPD that reported incidence of acute exacerbations. Individual participant data meta-analysis was performed using fixed effects models adjusting for age, sex, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease spirometric grade and trial.ResultsFour eligible RCTs (total 560 participants) were identified; individual participant data were obtained for 469/472 (99.4%) participants in three RCTs. Supplementation did not influence overall rate of moderate/severe COPD exacerbations (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13). Prespecified subgroup analysis revealed that protective effects were seen in participants with baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <25 nmol/L (aIRR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.84) but not in those with baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels ≥25 nmol/L (aIRR 1.04, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.27; p for interaction=0.015). Vitamin D did not influence the proportion of participants experiencing at least one serious adverse event (adjusted OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.75).ConclusionsVitamin D supplementation safely and substantially reduced the rate of moderate/severe COPD exacerbations in patients with baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <25 nmol/L but not in those with higher levels.Trial registration numberCRD42014013953.
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