research
There’s a lot we don’t know about male puberty
Maria Fabrizio for STAT
When girls experience early puberty, we know they’re at higher risk for endometriosis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, eating disorders, and more, including all-cause mortality. Research on the timing of male puberty is much more preliminary, though early studies have found similar correlations to timing and harmful health impacts. But given the fact that men suffer poorer health outcomes across their lifespans, some clinicians believe that a better understanding of puberty could be transformative.
“Increased knowledge on factors regulating timing of male puberty may be the key to understanding long-term health in males,” said Anders Juul, a pediatric endocrinologist who advocates for more research. STAT contributor Ashleigh N. DeLuca wrote about this under-examined gap and what needs to happen next. Read more.
politics
Senate hearing repeats talking points on gender care
A Senate health committee hearing yesterday highlighted persistent political debate around gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Questions and testimony largely lingered on well-trodden ground.
Senators and witnesses with opposing perspectives all claimed that the American Medical Association supported their position. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for example, cited a media statement from the AMA calling evidence for surgery on trans minors “insufficient.” Sen. Bernie Sanders asserted that the AMA supports affirming care. What’s the truth? The AMA has a policy supporting gender-affirming care, which it has not revoked. But the group, which wants to maintain a friendly relationship with the Trump administration, did release the statement Cassidy mentioned. The AMA later requested a correction from the New York Times in particular, and emphasized the importance of preserving access.
Kurt Miceli, a speaker representing the anti-gender-affirming-care and anti-DEI group Do No Harm, repeated a claim that most children who experience gender dysphoria will grow out of the feeling. But a recent literature review of research on desistance, most of which is decades old, found that this claim is “without merit,” as the studies are methodologically flawed and based on outdated assumptions.
Prominent detransitioner Chloe Cole spoke about her experience with what she calls coercive medical abuse. Cole advocated for bans on gender-affirming care and claimed “there is no such thing as a child being born in the wrong body.” Democratic senators opposite her expressed sympathy for her experience but argued that medical malpractice suits are the better way to address harm.
No transgender youth spoke at the hearing, but Sen. Tim Kaine spoke directly to them. “If you’re a trans kid watching this hearing,” he said, “there is some intentional effort to make you feel bad about yourself. But you got a lot of people who love you.”
health tech
Docs use AI scribes. Patients could, too.
More than a quarter of U.S. medical practices use ambient scribes, which are AI-based listening and note-taking tools. But now, a growing number of developers are pitching apps that will do similar work directly for the patients, offering extra help to remember what a doctor says and track multiple encounters across health systems.
As STAT’s Katie Palmer writes, every patient these days has a recording device in their pocket. But these tools — which are already garnering major investments — also raise concerns about data privacy when health information is stored outside a provider’s domain. Read more from Katie on what these apps are offering and the cultural and legal questions that come with them.
