Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk in Transgender Patients Presenting for Gender-Affirming Care

The transgender population is rapidly growing in the United States and abroad. Transgender men and women are marginalized as a result of their transgender status, with resultant health repercussions. This and other factors such as increased substance use, mental health disorders, violence, and chronic stress may place transgender individuals at higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, many transgender patients pursue gender-affirming hormone therapy, which has been linked to increased rates of some cardiovascular events such as metabolic syndrome, venous thromboembolism, and stroke. Despite the likelihood of elevated cardiovascular risk in this population, there is a paucity of published data about the cardiovascular risk of this population.

We present baseline cardiovascular data from a transgender population at a large tertiary care center prior to the initiation of hormone therapy.

The described transgender population had much higher rates of mental health disorders and substance use than the general population. Furthermore, there were high rates of undiagnosed and untreated comorbidities, such as hypertension and dyslipidemia, that increase risk for cardiovascular disease. Baseline risk assessment using the ASCVD (Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease) and QRISK3 calculators showed higher-than-expected cardiovascular risk, particularly given the young age of our patient population.

Transgender individuals are at high baseline cardiovascular risk. These data help fill some important knowledge gaps in this patient subgroup, and provide us with much-needed data to help guide our management and counseling of individuals seeking this type of care.