USA Govt Publishes Final Peer-Reviewed Puberty Blockers Report

[UtopiaPlanitia]

Admiral Brian Christine, who replaced Admiral Rachel Levine as Assistant Secretary for Health, announced the publication of the final, peer-reviewed version of the HHS report on "paediatric gender dysphoria".

https://x.com/ADM_Christine/status/1991176470723518638?s=20

"Today, we released a report exposing the truth: pediatric sex-rejecting procedures are not evidence-based. They are dangerous. Enough is enough. Read it for yourself. Protecting children should not be controversial, it is our duty. The tide is turning."

Another bit of excellent news!

Thank you for sharing.

Here's the Nitter version of the Admiral's post for those who don't have access to Twitter:

https://nitter.net/ADM_Christine/status/1991176470723518638#m

American journalist Wesley Yang on the announcement:

https://x.com/wesyang/status/1991171076085137498?s=20

"The Department of Health and Human Services has published the final, peer-reviewed edition of its systematic review of the evidence on pediatric gender medicine. The Washington Post Editorial Board notes that the review "has withstood scrutiny." "Their core finding — that the evidence for these interventions is highly uncertain — echoes the results of systematic reviews in other countries. None of the peer reviews of the HHS report ultimately rebut that conclusion."

None of this has been in serious dispute by informed observers since 2021, when Sweden reversed course on giving puberty blockers to children because the risks outweighed the benefits. US based medical trade associations continue to persist in the false claim that chemically castrating children and dosing them with hormones has been proved to be medically necessary and lifesaving. It is an ongoing scandal that the HHS report is the latest in a long series of authoritative documents to demonstrate."

Nitter link: https://nitter.net/wesyang/status/1991171076085137498#m

Washington Post article discussing the report:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/19/transgender-pediatric-medical-transition-hhs-report/

Archive Link: https://archive.is/BqfQ5

Link to the report on the HHS website:
https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report

Brilliant! I believe NZ have also banned ?

Failing to actually know who prompted this paper and leads the HHS in the U.S., take a look at the link on showing how this vaccine skeptic, who doesn't believe the Covid-19 vaccines are necessary and cutting out research dollars because it causes autism, as well as those for vaccines for measles, rubella, and the mumps. Drinking raw milk is safer than pasteurized milk. Removing anyone with any type of legitimate medical background that isn't anti-vaccine from guiding the U.S. that the orange blob gave the job to in order to get his endorsement. A man with no legitimate medical educational background except for law and environmental advocacy. If you can believe this crackpot, I'm sure you would easily find someone to sell you the crown jewels too.

How RFK Jr is systematically undermining vaccines around the world

So you support children being given experimental treatments that cause infertility and may have other serious long term effects? Why?

What a horrible, odious man Rachel Levine was. How such a loathsome person got into such a high office, one that requires legislative approval, I'll never know.

Which part of the HHS report do you disagree with? Presumably you have read it all?

@NumbersGuy- fortunately on this issue they’re agreeing with the systematic reviews from other countries, including obviously Cass.
On other health issues Levine may have been better suited to the role but was hardly unbiased on this one. The cost to children in the US has been high.

Wonderful news to start the day! This trend is definitely on its way out. Thank god.

WoW, this is shocking. As shocking as adult gender services not giving their data thé the Cass report. You have to wonder why.

’HHS invited the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society to contribute their evidence to this report. Both organizations declined to participate.’

Low quality evidence isn’t no evidence, and it isn’t evidence of ‘danger’ either. They’re not going to look for any further evidence, so problem solved?

I am terrified by the idea of children transitioning physically and felt nothing but relief when the Cass review was published. But I felt that because it was a considered and expert piece of work. Both of which are dirty words to this administration.

I've not read the report, but surely one can have low quality evidence which supports the assertion that there is no evidence to support the idea of sterilizing kids or having them undergo cosmetic surgeries related to secondary sex characteristics?

I think Trump's administration is incredibly bad in many ways, but on the other hand I genuinely don't believe that medical transition full stop - and child transition in particular - has enough credibility to warrant a report that goes further than "no transition for anyone unless someone can use existing data to prove much better outcomes for transitioners than if they don't transition, and provide evidence that transitioners still benefit even in a society that is explicitly clear - sex matters, gender never ever ever matters."

Vaccines are not puberty blockers.

I hope this helps you clarify things.

This is a derail and if you want to dicsuss the ins and outs of the USA medical behemoth and the crap it shoves down people's throats, maybe start your own thread on it as none of this has anything to do with the systematic creation of 'puberty' as a disease to be treated.

Obviously RFK Jr is a dangerous nutter, but 🤣 at the huge, huge audacity and irony of a man who comes onto Mumsnet calling himself “NumbersGuy”, who responds to discussion of a peer reviewed report with an ad hominem attack based on wrong-headed views on completely separate subjects!

Giving children a shot that prevents them naturally developing into adults is grotesque and makes no evolutionary sense whatsoever.

I'm very glad this madness is being exposed properly now.

This is great news. On a lighter note, we’ve had so many threads titled or comments saying “is the tide turning?” that it made me smile (and feel relieved!) to see an actual government person saying the tide is turning.

And this is the ‘Peer review supplement’ which is worth reading.

https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report-peer-reviews

This is the feedback from peer reviewers.

Just taken a very quick glance at the ‘Peer review supplement’ and found this...

Given the lack of demonstrable benefit and concern about potential harms, the
use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgery in minors with gender dysphoria cannot be ethically justified.

There is no compelling evidence from studies that psychotherapy as treatment
for gender dysphoria is beneficial. However, psychotherapy is generally shown to be beneficial for the treatment of psychiatric distress and various mental illnesses, and is thought to carry low risk of harm.

Translation "we have been using medical interventions which are (1) not proven to be beneficial, and are (2) clearly concerning in terms of potential harms. Meanwhile (3) nobody has bother to study whether the low risk, potentially highly beneficial, psychotherapy route is better".

It is almost incomprehensible that the medical industry could decide that the high risk, unproven, medical route is a good idea, but the low risk, proven-in-similar-contexts, psychotherapy route is such a bad idea that it shouldn;t even be tried. I say "almost incomprehensible" but most people who have come to this issue with an open mind could have identified the issues (1) to (3) very early on in their research, based on very little evidence and a bit of common sense.

The report is an expert piece of work. The authors are all experts. Opinions of the administration that requested it shouldn’t matter at all.

Just for @NumbersGuy . Maybe you can find problematic people to use to discredit the following reviews that all say pretty close to the same thing that this USA review found:

NICE

arms.nice.org.uk/resources/hub/1070905/attachment

The summary of the conclusion is

Conclusion
The results of the studies that reported impact on the critical outcomes of gender dysphoria and mental health (depression, anger and anxiety), and the important outcomes of body image and psychosocial impact (global and psychosocial functioning), in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria are of very low certainty using modified GRADE. They suggest little change with GnRH analogues from baseline to follow-up.

Sweden

genderreport.ca/the-swedish-u-turn-on-gender-transitioning/

Australia and NZ College of Psychiatrists publish a warning there is not enough evidence.

//www.ranzcp.org/news-policy/policy-and-advocacy/position-statements/gender-dysphoria

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists have now updated their guidance.

They are now warning that there is NOT ENOUGH evidence to recommend affirming only treatments or indeed any particular treatment plan. They now say that underlying health issues should be treated at the same time. And warn that medicalisation of children and teens be very careful and thoroughly explored considering the ‘paucity’ of evidence at this time.

France - declares there is not enough evidence.

The latest from National Academy of Medicine, France. They have issued a press release about treatment for gender disphoria in children and adolescents.

SEGM have translated it, but also linked up the original version.

segm.org/France-cautions-regarding-puberty-blockers-and-cross-sex-hormones-for-youth

Extract

Transgender identity is a feeling of identifying as a gender different from that assigned at birth, which is persistent and lasts more than 6 months. This experience can cause significant and prolonged distress, which can contribute to an increased risk of suicide [a].

No genetic predisposition has been found.

While this condition has been long recognized, a sharp increase in demand for medical interventions has been observed (1,2) first in North America, then in Northern Europe, and, more recently, in France, particularly among children and adolescents. A recent study of a number of high schools in Pittsburgh revealed a prevalence that is clearly higher than previously estimated in the United States (3): 10% of students declared themselves to be transgender or non-binary or were unsure of their gender [b]. In 2003, the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne diagnosed only one child with gender dysphoria, whereas today it treats nearly 200.

Whatever the mechanisms involved in adolescents - excessive engagement with social media, greater social acceptability, or influence by those in one’s social circle - this epidemic-like phenomenon manifests itself in the emergence of cases or even clusters of cases in the adolescents’ immediate surroundings (4). This primarily social problem is due, in part, to the questioning of an overly dichotomous view of gender identity by some young people.

The demand for medical interventions, due to the distress that this condition (which is not a mental illness per se) causes, leads to a growing supply of care in the form of consultations or care in specialized clinics. This involves many pediatric subspecialties. The psychiatric consultations are utilized first, and if the identity is authentic and the discomfort persists, endocrinology, gynecology and, ultimately, surgery become involved.

However, great medical caution must be taken in children and adolescents, given the vulnerability, particularly psychological, of this population and the many undesirable effects and even serious complications that can be caused by some of the therapies available. In this regard, it is important to recall the recent decision (May 2021) of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm to prohibit the use of puberty blockers.

If France allows the use of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones with parental authorization and no age limitations, the greatest caution is needed in their use, taking into account the side-effects such as the impact on growth, bone weakening, risk of sterility, emotional and intellectual consequences and, for girls, menopause-like symptoms.

Canada finds low evidence

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/transgender-treatments-for-kids
https://archive.ph/fLMxA
"The Canadian team combed the available evidence, pooling the results of research on puberty blockers and gender affirming hormones for children and youth up to age 26. They graded the evidence using a scoring system co-developed by Dr. Gordon Guyatt, a celebrated McMaster scientist who coined the phrase evidence-based medicine.
Article content
After screening 6,736 titles and abstracts involving puberty blockers, only 10 studies were included in their review. While children who received puberty blockers compared to those who don’t score higher on “global function” — quality of life, and general physical and psychological wellbeing — the evidence was of “very low certainty.” Very low, meaning researchers have “very little confidence in the effect estimate” and that the true effect “is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect.”
The studies also provided low certainty of evidence on the impact of puberty blockers on depression. While they may decrease depression in “male-to-female participants,” they didn’t decrease depression scores in the female-to-male group. “We are very uncertain about the causal effect of the (drugs) on depression,” the researchers wrote.
“Most studies provided very low certainty of evidence about the outcomes of interest thus, we cannot exclude the possibility of benefit or harm,” they said."

Here are the studies referenced in the article from McMaster University
https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/early/2025/01/24/archdischild-2024-327909.full.pdf
And
https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/early/2025/01/24/archdischild-2024-327921.full.pdf

New Zealand

https://www.health.govt.nz/news/additional-safeguards-for-puberty-blockers

Publication date: 21 November 2024
The Ministry of Health is today releasing an evidence brief and position statement on the use of puberty blockers for gender identity issues and outlining a more cautious approach to their use.
The evidence brief shows a lack of good quality evidence to back the effectiveness and safety of puberty blockers when used for this purpose.

UK

And the Cass Report:

Cut and paste the following as the report link has been moved to the national government archive and MN corrupts the links posted.

cass.independent-review.uk/publications/

There were Finnish and German teams that reviewed and found the same as well, I believe. I don't have those links though.

So, Numbers would you like to address the issues that were found in the USA review, or just dismiss it because you don't agree with one man's opinions?

Please let this mean that the experiment on puberty blockers in the UK is stopped and that eventually 'Admiral' Levine has to answer in a court for what he has done to children in the US.