Cancer Screening Barriers in Transgender Persons: An Integrative Review

Introduction: In Ontario, cancer screenings can detect early signs of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer and therefore reduce mortality. Transgender persons (TGP) are individuals whose gender assigned at birth differs from their gender identity. TGP face barriers and discrimination with accessing health care. The purpose of this paper is to identify the rate of cancer screening among TGP, compared to cisgender individuals, and identify barriers leading to screening non-adherence. Methods: An integrative review of quantitative studies was conducted to explore and summarize current research, the quality of the statistical methods used, and the barriers contributing to decreased cancer screening adherence rates among TGP. To our knowledge, this is the first academic review of quantitative studies examining statistical methods to identify what is known about cancer screening rates of TGP, compared to cisgender individuals. Results: Our preliminary results show that although cancer risk is similar among TGP and cisgender individuals, TGP consistently have lower adherence to cancer screening guidelines than cisgender individuals. Discrimination and inadequate provider education on TGP health needs are identified barriers to screening adherence. Conclusion: Cancer screening can identify the early onset of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer and reduce mortality. There is decreased cancer screening in TGP compared to cisgender individuals. Providers need to be better educated on the health needs of TGP to close the gap that currently exists in their care. Improving cancer screening adherence among TGP will lessen inequalities in this vulnerable population