A paper presented at the 2025 Joint Congress of the European Societies for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and Endocrinology (ESE), ECEESPE2025, has explored which goals people with gender incongruence prioritise in relation to their hormone treatment. This is the TRANSFORM study, carried out at the University Hospital of Basel (Switzerland).
What they asked
The aim was to learn, first-hand, what the real goals and needs of transgender and gender-diverse people are in relation to gender-affirming hormone therapy. Until now those priorities had barely been studied systematically and are rarely built into clinical trials.
Who took part
An anonymous online survey drew 738 participants (407 transmasculine, 304 transfeminine and 27 with other identities), with a median age of 25 for transmasculine and 29 for transfeminine respondents. 75.4% of transmasculine and 86.8% of transfeminine participants were receiving hormone treatment at the time.
The main findings
Physical changes were the main goal for people with a binary identity, while those who identified as non-binary prioritised more varied goals, such as quality of life and reduced gender dysphoria. Sexuality and safety scored lowest across all groups.
These results help clinicians steer the conversation about hormone treatment and better define research priorities, taking into account the diversity of goals, especially those of non-binary people.
Source: Cihan H. et al. What matters most? Gender diverse individuals’ perspective in gender-affirming hormone therapy – the TRANSFORM study. Endocrine Abstracts (2025) 110, P1065. DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.110.P1065 (ECEESPE2025).
Link to the publication: Abstract in Endocrine Abstracts
