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


"Probably one of the biggest takeaways from this particular abstract, which has been sort of corroborated or supported in other studies is that as healthcare providers, we need to do a better job of engaging transgender adults in their health care. And I think one of the barriers to that is the fact that we don't assess people's gender identity in clinical practice, even though there are systems in place like electronic health records that allow us to assess and document someone's gender identity. And I think that probably contributes to transgender people feeling like they are not seen or not heard by providers. I think overall, as healthcare providers and as health systems, we need to do more to increase visibility of transgender people and letting individuals from the communities know that our healthcare facilities are hoping to provide gender affirming care or are committed to providing gender affirming care. And I think one aspect of that is ensuring that health care providers have proper training and knowledge about the health issues that impact transgender adults, but also the factors that contribute to some of the health disparities that we see in the population."