Medical professionals and social scientists criticized a new study that claimed to find benefits to double mastectomies on young females who suffer from gender confusion.
The study, titled “Top Surgery and Chest Dysphoria Among Transmasculine and Nonbinary Adolescents and Young Adults,” and published in the American Medical Association’s journal JAMA Pediatrics claimed “gender-affirming top surgery is associated with improved chest dysphoria, gender congruence, and body image in this age group.”
The study looked at females ages 13 to 24 who either had a “surgical mastectomy” or who only took testosterone as the control group.
One researcher was affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago medical school while the others were affiliated with Northwestern University’s hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital. Lurie has received money from the wealthy Pritzker family to push “transgender” medicine and “gender-affirming care.” Northwestern University’s law school received a $100 million donation from J.B. Pritzker, the current governor of Illinois, and is now named after his family.
The supposed benefits led the authors to conclude there should be no age minimum for removing healthy breasts from girls. “In our practice, there is no predetermined timeline for gender-affirming medical or surgical treatment,” they wrote. “[P]atients are assessed individually by a multidisciplinary team for readiness. There is no evidence to support delaying surgery for eligible patients based on age.”
Despite fawning media coverage, the study is flawed, according to Catholic University of America professor Michael New, who frequently writes and studies research design and has a background in statistics.
“Even though the study has received largely sympathetic media coverage, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of its findings. First, the study compares various outcomes of 36 people who underwent top surgery to 34 people who did not,” New wrote in an email to LifeSiteNews. “This is a small sample size. Additionally, the authors of the study admit that they do not have data on 11 individuals due to attrition. It is unclear how many of these 11 individuals underwent top surgery. However, the fact that they do not have data from over 13 percent of study participants is concerning.”