Transgender adults more suicidal than general public

Suicidal thoughts and attempts by adult transgender individuals were 14 and 22 times higher, respectively, than rates for the general public, according to a recent study.

In a meta-synthesis of the transgender suicidality literature that included 42 studies published over 19 years, co-authors Noah Adams, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Maaya Hitomi, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, and Cherie Moody, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, reported differences in the rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts between male-to-female and female-to-male transgender respondents and gender non-conforming individuals.

Their findings can help target interventions aimed at suicide protection and support for these at-risk populations.

"Suicidality and other forms of mental health distress are health disparities that increasingly are being documented and studied in the academic literature as disproportionately affecting transgender people and populations," said Editor-in-Chief Robert Garofalo.

"With this work, Noah Adams and colleagues advance the field by conducting a meta-analysis giving important epidemiologic data that can then be used to develop interventions designed to help transgender people who are having suicidal thoughts or are experiencing psychological distress," he added.

The study is published in the journal Transgender Health

-ANI