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Chris's avatar

Almost certainly a lot more than 776 mastectomies. The Reuters data doesn't include private pay procedures. And JAMA Pediatrics reports 1,130 from 2016-2019.

Combining data from JAMA Pediatrics (2016-2019: 1,130) and Reuters (2020-21: 538) there were at least 1,668 gender affirming mastectomies for kids ages 12-17. Add in a bare minimum estimate of 250 for 2022 (likely much more based upon trends) and looking at close to 2,000 such procedures.

"Numbers of gender-affirming chest surgeries among transgender adolescents jumped 389% from 2016 to 2019, researchers reported.

Drawing on data from the Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample, an estimated 1,130 chest reconstructive surgeries were performed on transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) adolescents during these years, Rishub Karan Das, BA, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, and colleagues found.

Nearly all were masculinizing, with only 1.4% feminizing, the group wrote in a research letter appearing in JAMA Pediatricsopens in a new tab or window.

Only about 100 of these surgeries were performed in 2016, after which they steadily became more popular, surpassing 200 surgeries in 2017 and 300 by 2018. Das and colleagues put the 2019 total at 489 (P<0.001 vs 2016).

Ages of the adolescents ranged from 12 to 17, with a median of 16.

For context, the researchers noted that approximately 300,000 adolescentsopens in a new tab or window between the ages of 13 and 17 identify as transgender in the U.S. today."

https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/101252

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Gym+Fritz's avatar

We can’t address “transitioning” without considering motivation of the “care givers”.

I’m sure some MDs genuinely feel that mutilating kids & disrupting their natural development is actually helping them, but that does not make them not-evil.

Taking parents out of the equation is just plain wrong, as is not protecting children from misguided parents & caregivers.

Using fear, lies, and half-truths should be a give-away re ideological caregivers.

No one should be allowed to mutilate kids, either surgically or hormonally until they are at least 18, and then only after extensive counseling.

In the case of mentally challenged young people, transitioning should controlled by the courts - and not by just a single judge.

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