Previous scholarship has noted an elevated incidence of eating disorders among adolescents who present with gender dysphoria, and has posited that the eating disorders are a response to the patient’s discomfort with their developing body. A study of all 2,080 adolescents seeking gender reassignment in Finland from 1996 to 2019 confirms that eating disorders are more common in this population (5.0% vs. 1.6% of same-age controls). However, the study found that the eating disorder was no more likely to be resolved after gender reassignment than if gender reassignment was not pursued, so it is difficult to maintain that gender mis-alignment is the causative factor.
Gender Reassignment and Eating Disorders
