Gender-affirming care can benefit mental health, study says

(CNN) - A study found transgender or nonbinary youths suffer fewer mental health problems during their first year of gender-affirming treatment, authors said.

It found adolescents and young adults treated with puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones had 60 percent lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73 percent lower risk of committing suicide.

The research involved 104 transgender or nonbinary youth, making it one of the larger studies to examine the impact of gender-affirming treatment on youth.

The study participants were between the ages of 13 and 20.

Earlier studies have shown transgender youth have high rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders and suicide.

The study was published Friday in JAMA Network Open.