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Fertility Preservation for Transgender Adolescents
Diane Chen1, Lisa Simons2, Emilie K Johnson3
1Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
Purpose:
To describe fertility preservation (FP) utilization by transgender adolescents within a pediatric gender clinic between July 2013 and July 2016.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review was conducted to abstract demographic and clinical information among adolescents initiating gender-affirming hormones, including patient age at initial FP consultation, birth-assigned sex, race/ethnicity, and outcome of FP consultation.
Results:
In our sample of 105 transgender adolescents, a total of 13 (seven transgender men and six transgender women) between the age of 14.2 and 20.6 years were seen in formal consultation for FP before initiating hormones. Of these adolescents, four completed sperm cryopreservation and one completed oocyte cryopreservation.
Conclusions:
Rates of FP utilization among transgender youth were low, which is consistent with a recently published report of FP utilization among transgender youth at another pediatric institution. Identified barriers to FP in our sample included cost, invasiveness of procedures, and desire not to delay medical transition.