Summary
Kidney health and manifestation of disease in transgender men, women, and nonbinary
individuals are not well understood. Transgender individuals commonly receive gender-affirming
hormone therapy (GAHT) to align their outward appearance with their gender. Recent
attention to the differences in fundamental kidney parameters has identified that
transgender individuals may manifest levels of these biomarkers differently than their
cisgender counterparts. Improving understanding of the differences in biomarkers and
in the development of kidney disease is essential to providing appropriate kidney
care to this vulnerable population. In this review, we introduce the current information
related to GAHT and kidney health and highlight the significant gaps in our understanding
of how GAHT may affect kidney physiology and pathophysiology.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 04, 2023
Footnotes
Financial support: Supported by a research grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01 DK129239-01) (L.M.C.), and by a TL1 mechanism (5TL1TR003106-04) (H.E.E.).
Conflict of interest statement: none
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