CV NEWS FEED // England’s National Health Service (NHS) has banned puberty blockers for children outside of clinical research.
In its announcement, the NHS stated that “outside of a research setting, puberty suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria.”
The NHS document is based primarily on an independent study, the Cass Review, that states that the lack of known outcomes for child puberty blockers makes it unwise to continue prescribing them.
According to the review, there has been a rapid increase in requests for puberty blockers, but no routine data collection after children undergo the hormone suppressants.
It also states that “specialist services” for gender dysphoria were created so quickly that they were not “subjected to some of the normal quality controls that are typically applied when new or innovative treatments are introduced.”
The NHS says that as of 2021 to 2022, there were over 5,000 referrals of children and young people with gender dysphoria to the agency’s Gender Identity Development Service, compared to 250 from 2011 to 2012.
The NHS additionally states that the number of teenagers requesting referrals has dramatically shifted from predominantly male to predominantly female. Meanwhile, an increasing number of children referred also have “other mental health needs and risky behaviors which require careful consideration and needs to be better understood.”
The decision to ban puberty blockers follows a 45-day period for public comments that were compiled in a consultation overview. The majority of respondents (53%) said they agreed with the changes, while most who disagreed said it was because it would further increase wait times for blockers.
