Transgender, the first Italian study to assess their physical and psychological health

In Italy there are approx 500 mila transgender, and their number is increasing every year 6-7%. It is an estimate of the endocrinologist Francesco Lombardo, head of the clinic of the Policlinico Umberto I which deals with gender transition, and which is one of the seven specialized centers (in addition to the Policlinico di Roma, the centers of Florence, Bologna, Naples, Turin , Trieste and a center in Sardinia) to have participated in the first Italian study aimed at evaluating the psychological and health impact of transgender people.

For the survey, sponsored by the Higher Institute of Health, they were administered questionnaires to about a thousand transgender people.

“The increase in trans people has led us to have to add a day of visits to our clinic to process requests”, explains Francesco Lombardo, who has more than thirty years of experience in treating, from the point of view of endocrinology, transgender people. “In addition to the increase in general, we must also note theincrease in people making a gender transition from female to male. Until three or four years ago the ratio between male-female and female-male transgenders was 7 to 3, today they have come to be equal “.

The transition of hormones, which today in Italy is the responsibility of the National Health Service, must be authorized after a psychological examination. «In Rome, the green light comes from Saifip, of the San Camillo hospital. After this go-ahead it is good that the times are not dilated too much: lgender dysphoria is a source of suffering important in their conditions ”, adds Francesco Lombardo. “The fact is that while in Parliament the issue of gender is dealt with in theory, we live it every day on the skin of individuals”.