The Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) published an analysis Monday ripping into a study put out by the JAMA network that claimed to show there is a zero percent regret rate for gender affirming mastectomies.
The study, touted by outlets such as CNN, claims to show that biological females who underwent mastectomies to appear male experienced extremely low levels of regret. The researchers sent surveys to two-hundred thirty five patients who underwent mastectomies during a 30-year span with a median age of about 27. The study had no minor participants.
But, as SEGM points out, while the study claims to measure “long-term” regret, the median amount of time since the surgery was only 3.6 years. Only a quarter of the study participants had the surgery more than five years prior to being surveyed. (RELATED: Amanda Abbington Does Damage Control Over Resurfaced Tweets Reportedly Opposing ‘Over-Sexualized’ Drag Show For Kids)
The JAMA study also suffers from an extremely high non-participation rate — just 41 percent.
“High nonparticipation rates threaten the validity of the findings because those who opt not to participate in research likely have different levels of satisfaction and regret. The more the responder and non-responder groups differ on baseline or other characteristics, the greater the chance of non-participation bias,” the SEGM analysis reads.
NEW: The Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (@segm) has just published a critical analysis of the new study on regret following “gender-affirming” mastectomy surgery.
Here are the highlights 🧵
— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) August 14, 2023
The study analyzed medical data of the non-responders for any reverse mastectomies that may have occurred and used this data to measure regret. This measure of regret assumes two things that may not be true. First, SEGM notes, it assumes that all those who regret the mastectomy will go on to have it reversed. And second, it assumes that those who regret the mastectomy and do get it reversed will have this reversal done at the same clinic that did the original operation.
The JAMA study also juxtaposes its analysis with state laws restricting transgender treatments. These laws usually target surgeries, hormones and puberty blockers provided to minors, but the JAMA study did not include any minor participants.
“Results of studies of adult participants cannot reasonably be extrapolated to children/adolescents due to the difference in decisional capacity regarding long-term invasive and irreversible interventions between children and adults,” the analysis reads. “Since all the data on satisfaction and regret came from adults, it is inappropriate for the authors and the invited commentators, to leverage the results of the study—whether they are reliable or untrustworthy—to advocate for a policy concerning minors.”
Other critics of the study noted that the zero percent regret rate for gender affirming mastectomies was lower than the regret rate for prophylactic mastectomies for potential breast cancer patients — five percent, according to one study.