Race, Ethnicity, and Complications Following Gender-Affirming Surgery

Citation: Kung, Yu Jui, et al. “Race, Ethnicity, and Complications Following Gender-Affirming Surgery: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Analysis.” Cureus, 12 Nov. 2025, https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.96699. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.

Read the paper here

Background:

Gender-affirming surgery helps people live as their true selves. Doctors wanted to know if a person's race or ethnicity affects how well they heal. They looked at a large group of 6,013 people to see if everyone was getting the same results after their operations.

Methods:

The researchers studied a national database of surgery records. Most of the people in the study were White (66.4%), followed by Black (14.6%) and Hispanic (13.1%) patients. They looked at five main types of surgery, including chest and genital surgeries, to see if some groups had more problems like infections or needing to return to the hospital.

Results:

The study found that while most people did well, there were some differences.

Overall Procedure Utilization

Overall, chest masculinization is the most commonly completed procedure.

Chest Masculinization Reoperation and Readmission rates by race

Chest Surgery: Black patients had a higher chance of needing a second surgery (4.5% vs 1.7%) and returning to the hospital (2.3% vs 0.5%) compared to White patients.

Genital Feminization complication rates by race

Genital Surgery: Hispanic and Black patients had more issues with their wounds healing (nearly 10%) compared to White patients (only 3.3%).

Conclusion:

This research shows that even when the surgeries are the same, a patient's background can affect their recovery. This might be because of things like how close a person lives to a doctor or if they have enough money for medicine. It means hospitals need to work harder to make sure every patient gets the same high-quality care.

Future Directions:

In the future, doctors want to study "Social Determinants of Health." This means looking at a patient's life outside the hospital—like their housing and transportation—to help them heal better. They also want to create special support programs for groups that are facing more complications.