Transgender Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Initiation and Continuation of Transgender Care In-Person and Through Telehealth

Abstract

Gender-Affirming care is essential to the health and wellbeing of transgender and nonbinary people. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to disrupt transgender care. This study explores transgender care before and during the onset of the pandemic using patient data from 10 family planning clinics in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. No significant differences were observed in the proportion of transgender care visits pre-or during the pandemic. However, we did find a significantly larger proportion of new transgender patient visits and significantly smaller proportion of established patient visits during the pandemic, with nearly half delivered through telehealth care.