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A systematic review and meta-analysis in Nature Mental Health examines research on improving mental health and health behaviors among transgender and non-binary populations. The supplied material, however, is a reference list rather than the review’s findings. It does not provide the study’s sample sizes, effect estimates or conclusions.
Even without those results, the references show the breadth of research considered. They include systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, observational studies, scoping reviews and ClinicalTrials.gov records.
A broad health picture
The cited literature covers several connected areas of health and care, including:
- mental health, anxiety and suicide;
- substance use, including alcohol and nicotine;
- HIV prevention and care, including PrEP-related research;
- gender minority stress, stigma and discrimination;
- access to health care and gender-affirming care; and
- digital, community-based and psychological interventions.
This range matters because mental health and health behaviors are not treated as isolated topics in the cited research. The reference list includes work addressing clinical support, prevention, social conditions and access to services across different transgender and gender-diverse populations.
Earlier reviews provide important context
Several cited publications are reviews of existing evidence. A 2017 systematic review by Millet, Longworth and Arcelus examined anxiety symptoms and disorders in the transgender population. McNeil, Ellis and Eccles were cited for a 2017 systematic review on suicide in trans populations.
Becasen and colleagues were cited for a 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis estimating HIV prevalence and sexual behaviors among the US transgender population from 2006 to 2017. Another cited study, by Hughto and colleagues, examined alcohol, nicotine and other substance-use-disorder diagnoses among US transgender and cisgender adults in 2021.
The references also include a 2023 systematic review by Exposito-Campos, Pérez-Fernández and Salaberria on empirically supported affirmative psychological interventions for transgender and non-binary youth and adults.
Interventions represented in the references
The list includes research on several types of intervention. Christensen and colleagues are cited for a 2025 systematic review of interventions intended to reduce suicide risk among transgender and gender-diverse youth.
Nolan and colleagues are cited for a 2023 randomized clinical trial involving early access to testosterone therapy for transgender and gender-diverse adults seeking masculinization. Budge, Sinnard and Hoyt are cited for a 2021 randomized controlled pilot trial of psychotherapy with transgender and nonbinary clients.
Digital and community-based approaches also appear in the reference list. ClinicalTrials.gov records include “Trans women connected” and an mHealth approach focused on reducing HIV health disparities among African American transgender women.
Why the evidence needs careful reading
The references span different populations, outcomes and research designs. Some focus on transgender women, some on transgender men, some on non-binary people and some on transgender and gender-diverse youth or adults. Others compare transgender and cisgender adults or examine particular health outcomes such as HIV, suicide, anxiety or substance-use-disorder diagnoses.
Those differences mean that results from one cited study should not automatically be treated as evidence about every transgender or non-binary person, every age group or every health outcome. A review and meta-analysis is intended to bring evidence together, but its conclusions still depend on the studies included and the methods used to analyze them.
What is—and is not—established by the supplied material
The fact sheet establishes that the review is situated within a substantial and varied research literature. It also shows that the cited work addresses both health outcomes and possible ways to improve care, support and prevention.
It does not establish whether a specific intervention was effective, how large any effects were, which approaches performed best or what the authors concluded overall. Those questions require the full systematic review and meta-analysis rather than the reference list alone.
The cited materials include a 2025 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resource on mental health, alongside research on gender minority stress, stigma, health-care access, gender-affirming care and digital health. Together, the references map a field that brings clinical, behavioral and community perspectives into the study of transgender and non-binary health.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article.
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