ESPE Abstracts

Background: Quality of life (QOL) includes physical, psychological and social aspects. Transgender (TG) children undergo problems in school and with family, friends, and social relationships. These adverse effects on physical and psychosocial health can impair their quality of life.

Objective and Methods: This study aims to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL), using the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire (Spanish version, administered via e-mail) in a group of Chilean transgender children (8–18 years) and their parents, and compare them with Chilean cisgender (CIS) children. All scores were standardised according to the KIDSCREEN manual. Higher scores indicate greater HRQoL.

Results: Thirty-eight children completed the questionnaire, aged 8.4-18 years. 21 were TG: 6 (29%) transfemale (14.3 [10.9-15.7] years) and 15 (71%) transmale (15.2 [14.0-18.0] years). 17 were cis- children: 13 females (76%) (10.6 [8.7-13-1] years) and 4 males (24%) (13.6 [10.5-14.4] years). Sixty-two parents' questionnaires were completed: 33 from transgender families: 45% transfemale and 55% transmale, and 29 questionnaires from cisgender families: 72% females and 28% males. Results are shown in Table 1.

HRQOL scores were lower in TG children compared to CIS children in all domains. The worst domains in TG children were "Moods & Emotions", "Psychological Well-being" and "Social Acceptance". The better domain was "School Environment"

Conclusion: Our results revealed that TG children have worse QOL compared to CIS children. The worst results were related to mental health issues. Obtaining this information it is important to identify these problems in order to improve their quality of life.