Health of Transgender Adults, 2020

Transgender and gender diverse individuals are known to experience barriers to accessing medical care while also being at higher risk of chronic conditions. In this study, the health conditions, disabilities, and health care access of 1,017 transgender and gender diverse(TGD) respondents to the 2020 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System were examined in relation to both cisgender men and cisgender women. This analysis was done to further the effort of understanding the health disparities experienced by TGD populations. Transgender and gender diverse individuals were more likely to have poor overall health and mental health, have multiple chronic health conditions, and have cost be a barrier to health care. Gender non-conforming individuals were found to have the highest risk of mental and physical disabilities impacting their everyday lives. These findings emphasize the need for collecting gender identity information in national health surveillance systems as well as the need for public health interventions to be targeted specifically towards gender diverse individuals