pediatrics-health-adolescent-health-2018-posters

Volume 4

Journal of Pediatric Care

ISSN: 2471-805X

Page 74

JOINT EVENT

August 06-07, 2018 Madrid, Spain

Edition of International Conference on

Adolescent Health & Medicine

International Conference on

Pediatrics Health

Pediatrics Health 2018

Adolescent Health 2018

August 06-07, 2018

Gender non-conforming children and transgender youth: Clinical considerations and perspective from

the United States

Johanna Olson Kennedy

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, USA

ransgender youth are those who experience incongruence between their assigned sex at birth, and their gender identity.

Ongoing distress that results in an impairment of function about this incongruence is termed gender dysphoria. In order

to help alleviate this distress, many transgender youth require physical changes to their bodies in order to bring them into

closer alignment with their internal gender identity. Historically, most transgender individuals seeking medical interventions

(hormones and/or surgery) for gender transition have and still continue to access care in adulthood. The past decade has

witnessed an unprecedented number of transgender youth presenting for care at gender centers throughout the world, with

the average age of referral getting younger each year. In response to this groundswell, the care of gender non-conforming and

transgender youth has become a topic of great interest over the past decade. The evolution of professional communities moving

frompathologizing transgender experience to a thoughtful discussion about improving the health andwell-being of transgender

individuals is long overdue. The development of adult male (larnyngeal prominence, deepening of the voice, tall stature, etc.)

or adult female (chest, menstruation, and short stature) secondary sexual characteristics often trigger specific body dysphoria

for many transgender adolescents and adults. The use of medications for the purpose of suppressing endogenous puberty,

and thus potentially bypassing the development of undesired secondary sexual characteristics altogether, is a relatively new

strategy in the approach to treating gender-nonconforming youth. Primarily pioneered by a team of gender specialists in the

Netherlands, suppression of puberty is becoming increasingly common in many gender clinics around the world. Increasingly,

professional guidelines are acknowledging the importance of individualized care plans over protocols as appropriate and

critical when working with gender diverse youth. The use of cross-sex, or gender affirming hormones for masculinization

or feminization is a critical aspect of addressing gender dysphoria in most transgender individuals. Due to a lack of available

data and long-term outcomes among youth who begin physical gender transition in adolescence, there is a lack of consensus

among medical providers about timing, dosing, and care models for transgender youth. This workshop will cover the basic

principles of gender dysphoria, the use of blockers to suppress endogenous puberty, and the use of gender affirming hormones

in transgender adolescents. mental health and medical care for those youth desiring gender transition is still extremely rare,

and often inadequate in most places around the United States. This program is a comprehensive, two day symposium designed

for professionals interested in providing sensitive and competent mental health and medical care for gender non-conforming

children, transgender youth and young adults. While primarily didactic in presentation, this symposium also includes case

studies, and audience activities designed to highlight the challenges of caring for this population, and improve understanding

of their needs.

J Pediatr Care 2018, Volume 4

DOI: 10.21767/2471-805X-C3-012