Quality of Life Changes in Iranian Patients Undergoing Female-to-Male Transsexual Surgery: A Prospective Study

Gender identity disorder (GID) is associated with various adverse health outcomes as well as psychiatric problems. Quality of life (QOL) in patients after surgery is an important issue, as some cases report dissatisfaction and regret after surgery. The present study compared QOL in female-to-male (FTM) GID patients before and after gender reassignment surgery (GRS) in an Iranian population. In the present study, 42 natal female patients with Gender Disorder diagnosis, who were referred to the Fertility Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences for GRS from December 2014 to December 2015, were prospectively recruited. The demographic characteristics, including age, body mass index (BMI), occupational and marital status, educational level, and family support were recorded. Then, participants were asked to complete the Persian version of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire under supervision of the researcher, once at baseline and once 6 months after surgery. The changes in SF-36 scores and association with the demographic variables were then evaluated using SPSS 16 at significance level of 0.05. Mean age of patients was 34.17 ± 5.58 years with a mean BMI of 43.14 ± 6.91 kg/m2 . Most were single (54.8%), had primary school education (50.5%), and acceptable family support (59.5%). Total mean score of QOL significantly improved from 26.43±6.81 to 37.52 ± 8.67 (P < 0.001), 6 months after surgery and also in all domains (P < 0.001), although the increase in emotional problem was not statistically significant (P = 0.05). In conclusion, as the results of the present study highlight, FTM GD patients have a low QOL before surgery that is significantly improved after surgery.