England Records 50-Fold Rise in Number of Children with Gender Dysphoria in a Decade

The number of under-18s in England with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria recorded by a GP has risen 50-fold in the last decade, a study of medical records released Friday details.

The work looked at GP records to shed light on trends in the community over the past 10 years.

The NHS defines gender dysphoria as a term “that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.”

It may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life.

“What we have is the number of children who’ve ever had a diagnosis of something related to gender dysphoria,” Prof Tim Doran, co-author of the work from the University of York, said.

Writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, Doran and colleagues describe how they examined data relating to children and young people aged 18 and under attending GP practices in England between 2011 and 2021, encompassing 3,782 individuals with gender dysphoria or similar diagnoses.

The Guardian reports the results of the spread of the disorder:

The results, based on data from about 20% of GP practices, show both the rates of incidence – the number of new cases each year – and the prevalence of such diagnoses rose over the decade.

The prevalence increased from about one in 60,000 in 2011 (equating to 192 children and young people nationally) to about one in 1,200 in 2021 (equating to 10,291 nationally) – more than a fiftyfold increase.

The team said that from 2015, prevalence rose more quickly among children recorded as female on their health records, ending up about twice as high as for recorded males by 2021.

Doran said among 17- and 18-year-olds, the prevalence of gender dysphoria was about one in 238 in 2021.

“[It’s] still really uncommon, but obviously much, much, much more common than it used to be 10 years ago,” he said.

The researchers found both incidence and prevalence rose with children’s age, but there was no link to the level of deprivation in their area.

The team also looked at the prevalence of anxiety, depression and self-harm in children and young people with gender dysphoria.

They found they were on a par with, or even exceeded, levels for children and young people diagnosed with autism or eating disorders – populations known to have high levels of these problems.