Billy A. Caceres, Ph.D., R.N., FAHA, Chair of the writing group for the American Heart Association Scientific Statement: LGBTQ heart health, “Assessing and Addressing Cardiovascular Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (or Questioning) Adults and assistant professor, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, New York.

Offering perspective on AHA Scientific Sessions 2020 Presentation P2274 
copyright American Heart Association 2020

"This study is important, but it is a descriptive study that is simply just describing some of the health risk factors that we see among transgender people, and we really need more studies that you use other methodologies like that follow people over time or that look at not just only people that are engaging in gender affirming hormone therapy but also transgender people that might not be seeking care for gender affirming hormone therapy. Those people might be at greater risk for having undiagnosed cardiovascular conditions or risk factors for cardiovascular disease like hypertension. And I think that that's a big gap that we sort of don't really understand. We understand a lot more about transgender people that are seeking care, that are already engaged in care, or even if they're not already engaged in care, we know a lot more about people that are willing to engage in care, and a lot less about transgender people who might be more reticent or reluctant to engage in gender affirming hormone therapy or other forms of gender affirming care."