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Quality of Life After Gender Affirmation Surgery: a Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis

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Abstract

To carry out a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis to identify studies or data that evaluated the patient’s QoL after gender affirmation surgery. Data was collected from PubMed, Scielo, Google Scholar, and Science Direct from the inception of each database to 26 June 2018, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. A network meta-analysis was applied and a two-tailed p value < 0.05 was the criterium of statistical significance. GRADE was used to assess the overall quality of evidence for each outcome collected. From 2843 articles, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria of the systematic review with 881 individuals. The majority of the 14 included studies originated from Europe. Seven studies involving 420 individuals met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Statistical heterogeneity of the results was significant. Evidence of low quality suggests that gender affirmation surgery will likely improve the QoL of transgender individuals. Better overall QoL results were found in the trans men population that underwent chest surgery.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and Tiradentes University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Program in Health and Environment, Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil

    Taciana Silveira Passos & Marcos Antonio Almeida-Santos

  2. University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA

    Marina Sá Teixeira

  3. Tiradentes Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    Marcos Antonio Almeida-Santos

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  1. Taciana Silveira Passos
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  2. Marina Sá Teixeira
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  3. Marcos Antonio Almeida-Santos
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Correspondence to Marcos Antonio Almeida-Santos.

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Passos, T.S., Teixeira, M.S. & Almeida-Santos, M.A. Quality of Life After Gender Affirmation Surgery: a Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. Sex Res Soc Policy 17, 252–262 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-019-00394-0

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