A thorough analysis of nearly 7 million health and legal records over the past 40 years found transgender Danish people at a significantly higher risk of suicide than other groups. This study is the first in the world to analyze national suicide data for this group.
Although the records analyzed in the study showed that suicide rates for all groups decreased over time, the records analyzed in this study showed that transgender people in the country were more likely to attempt suicide than the rest of the population. rate was 7.7 times higher, and suicide rate was 3.5 times higher. And Danish transgender people died younger than others, from suicide and other causes.
“There is no doubt that this is a big question that needs to be considered,” said Dr Morten Frisch, a sexual health epidemiologist at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. He is also a co-author of a new study.
The survey results are published The article, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, says Republican lawmakers across the country are enacting laws targeting sexuality and gender identity to limit drug performance, restroom use by transgender people, and gender relations in the United States. The political moment of medical care.
Studies of LGBTQ people in the United States show that they have higher rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts and are at increased risk of dying from suicide. However, the paucity of data on actual deaths has sparked intense speculation and debate about the risk of suicide. Some Republican lawmakers have argued that transgender suicides are rare, while some LGBTQ advocates assert that the new law could lead to more transgender young people committing suicide.
“This provides a clear rebuttal to some of the political debate that suggests the suicide risk of these groups is exaggerated,” said a 20-year study of suicide risk among LGBTQ people. Ann Haas, professor emeritus at the City University of New York, who has been
But Dr. Haas added, “Now is not the time to use data for political disparagement.”
Like many countries, the United States does not have information about the sexual orientation or gender identity of those who have died violently. This is because such information is not recorded on the death certificate. A few mortality investigators are interviewing friends and family members of the dead to gather such data, but progress is slow.
However, in Denmark Centralized data repository This allows researchers to conduct large-scale, tightly controlled studies.
Extracting data from two sources, hospital records and legal gender change applications, the authors of the new report identified about 3,800 transgender people in Denmark. Nearly 43 percent of this group had a psychiatric diagnosis, compared with 7 percent of the non-transgender group.
The study identified 92 suicide attempts and 12 suicide deaths in the transgender group between 1980 and 2021, a significantly higher rate than found in the non-transgender group. The researchers said there were most likely other suicides not included in the data because there was no record of the person’s gender identity. The study also found that the rate of non-suicidal deaths in the transgender group was almost twice as high as in the nontransgender group.
Suicide rates in the United States and Denmark are similar, at 14 per 100,000 people, suggesting the findings may apply to the United States, researchers said.
“Transgender people face widespread poverty and widespread discrimination, are more likely to be homeless, are more likely to be homeless, and are more likely to be homeless,” said Gillian Brunstetter, a communications strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union. The people covered by the system make up the majority,” he said. Focuses on transgender rights. “Material deprivation has a very real impact on their lives, even leading to premature death.”
But the researchers cautioned against drawing overly broad conclusions about the calculated rates. First, the actual number of suicides and attempts among transgender people was low.
Researchers found that about 0.06 percent of the Danish population is transgender, based on search tools. In contrast, the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles used survey data to estimate that the number of people in the United States who identify as transgender is ten times that number. That could mean that the data do not include the growing number of Danish transgender people, especially young people who identify as transgender or non-binary, and perhaps the true suicide rate is what is being reported. The researchers said it could be different.
“These studies tend to include a broader range of transgender people, and we are not certain whether our results are similarly problematic for the broader group,” said Dr. Frisch. Stated.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or visit the link below. SpeakerOfSuicide.com/Resources For a list of additional resources, see
