Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has never hesitated to engage in sensitive topics on the social media platform.
The billionaire, who has sparked gender controversy before, has participated in multiple conversations about transgender treatment and care.
In a recent correspondence on transgender health, Musk cited studies suggesting that people who have had transgender surgery are more likely to die by suicide than the general population.
Claim
Tweet Posted on April 25, 2023, Musk’s article, which has been viewed 1.2 million times, claimed that a “comprehensive study in Sweden” showed an increase in suicide among “transgendered” people.
Musk added: “Transsexuals had higher mortality rates than same-sex-born controls, especially from suicide. They also had a higher risk of attempted suicide and psychiatric hospitalization.”
fact
Links between transgender people and worsening mental health have been documented. Studies have observed an association between suicide attempts and people who identify as transgender, with numbers ranging from approximately 20% to 40% within these populations.
However, the research Musk cites contains some important details to consider when considering his claims.
The study, published in 2011, estimated 30-year ‘mortality, morbidity, and crime rates after surgical transsexual reassignment’ for 324 ‘transsexuals’ in Sweden. . Each of these participants was matched with 10 population controls. Matches by year of birth and gender of birth, or “reassigned (final) gender”.
Data from the Swedish Health and Population Register found that people who were “reassigned” to their gender were more likely to die by suicide, attempt suicide or be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
The paper states: Mortality seen in transsexuals.
“Therefore, we should consider improving the care of transsexual groups after transsexuals.”
Although a long-term analysis, the findings may only reflect attitudes and lack of support for transgender people from 1973 to 2003. Acknowledging that contemporary improvements to social care ‘could have improved outcomes’: transgender case studies.
In line with this, the other results of this study seem to indicate that those who underwent surgery later in the data set had a lower incidence of some of the measured mortality and morbidity outcomes. .
For example, researchers found a statistically significant increase in the number of people who underwent repositioning surgery between 1989 and 2003 compared with those who underwent repositioning surgery between 1973 and 1988. found no high risk of suicide attempts. A group that underwent surgery before 1989.
Although it is not possible to conclude without further analysis why the 15-year period in which repositioning surgery was performed led to these statistical differences, the study found that “improved health care and , people with different gender expressions.”
Historical context is important in assessing health risks as serious and sensitive as suicide, especially in marginalized groups. It was more than a decade before the American Psychiatric Association revised its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to no longer list being transgender as a mental disorder. after being published).
This is just one example of changes in attitudes and care that can affect access to and willingness to seek health care, support and treatment, which may have influenced the results here.
These attitudes may also have influenced the pool of participants the researchers were able to recruit. It was based on national database records, not cases.
If more individuals were forced or felt comfortable seeking surgery during the period when data were collected, what would be the actual risks of mental illness and suicide among the broader transgender population? It may have provided more representative results for what it was like.
In any case, Musk isn’t necessarily wrong in citing this study (which provides useful insight into the risk outcomes of people undergoing reassignment surgery), but the data it is based on It also neglects to mention the historical background and evidence of This suggests that younger generations experienced improved outcomes.
This month, several transgender groups accused Twitter of censoring words related to the LGBTQ+ community. I was told that certain words like ‘trans’, ‘LGBT’ and ‘BLM’ (Black Lives Matter) would not show up in the preview window if sent as a private him message called DM on the platform.
The Transsafety Network, a UK-based organization of journalists and data analysts that provides research to decision-makers who influence behavior affecting the safety of trans people, has also explored the issue.
Words like “queer,” “sex,” “lesbian,” “homosexual,” “bisexual,” “intersex,” and more appear to be banned from Twitter DMs.
Newsweek I reached out to Twitter for comment.
Ruling
Need context.
Musk didn’t misquote the 2011 survey results, but his tweets indicated that it was based on data from (in some cases) 50 years ago and that the younger generation of the survey had better results. I didn’t mention that.
The studies Musk mentions provide interesting insights into transgender-based results, but the significance of the historical context in which the data were obtained should be considered with caution.
Fact-checked by Newsweek’s fact-checking team