Fact Check: Musk Says Trans Study Shows Higher Suicide Rate After Surgery
Twitter, Elon Musk has not hesitated to engage in sensitive topics on the social media platform.Having previously courted controversy over gender, the billionaire has entered into multiple conversations about transgender treatment and care.During one recent exchange on transgender health, Musk quoted a study suggesting that those who had undergone transgender surgery were more likely to die by suicide than the general population.The ClaimA tweet by Musk, posted on April 25, 2023, viewed 1.2 million times, claimed that a "comprehensive study in Sweden" showed that "sex-reassigned" persons showed increased suicide.Musk added: "Death for sex-reassigned persons was higher than for controls of same birth sex, particularly death from suicide.
They also had increased risk for suicide attempts and psychiatric inpatient care."The FactsThe association between transgender people and poorer mental health outcomes is documented.
Multiple studies have observed association between suicide attempts and people who identify as transgender, with figures ranging from about 20 percent to 40 percent within those populations.However, the study that Musk cites contains some important details that should be taken into consideration when looking at his claim.The study, published in 2011, estimated the "mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgical sex reassignment of transsexual persons" of "324 "sex-reassigned persons" in Sweden for 30 years.
Each of these participants was matched with 10 population controls matched by birth year and birth sex or "reassigned (final) sex."Data, which was taken from health and population registers in Sweden, found that those who had their sex "reassigned" were more likely to have died by suicide, made a.
