Transgender women taking gender-affirming hormones like estrogen are up to 95% more likely to suffer from heart disease compared to cisgender men, researchers have found.
A study published in the European Journal of Endocrinology showed that all trans people were at a “significantly higher risk” of a host of serious and potentially deadly medical conditions, including heart attacks and strokes.
The authors used health data from 2,671 trans people in their early to mid-20s living in Denmark.
They then compared the rate of heart disease seen in the trans patients to a control group of 26,700 people.
The increased risk of any type of heart disease was higher in both transgender men and women as compared with the control group, the study found.
Transgender women taking estrogen had a 93% increased risk of heart problems versus control men, and a 73% higher risk when measured against control women.
Transgender men taking testosterone had a 2.2 times increased risk of cardiovascular ailments compared with control men, and a 63% increased risk compared with control women.
High blood pressure and abnormal blood fats were the most common cardiovascular problems observed in the trans study subjects.
“For trans women, hormone treatments such as estrogen will increase fat mass and lower lean body mass, and increased estrogen is usually associated with increased risk of autoimmune disease and inflammation,” said Dr. Dorte Glintborg, lead study author from Denmark’s Odense University Hospital.
Some studies also found a higher risk of type 2 diabetes in transgender women, but Glintborg said this has not been confirmed by all available research.
The experts noted that this data study did not allow them to investigate the influence of body mass index, family history of heart disease and lifestyle factors, such as diet, smoking and exercise, on study outcomes.
Glintborg said further studies were needed to examine transgender men and women’s metabolic functions and their various treatment regimens.