Cardiac Autonomic Modulation in Transgender Men Under Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy

The study investigated cardiac autonomic modulation in transgender men undergoing testosterone treatment compared to cisgender women. Conducted with 11 transgender men and 11 age- and BMI-matched cisgender women, the study found no differences in heart rate variability (HRV) at rest between the groups. However, during a mental stress test, transgender men exhibited a significantly lower increase in normalized low frequency (LF) units and LF-to-HF ratio compared to cisgender women, indicating impaired autonomic modulation in response to sympathetic stimulation. This suggests that testosterone treatment may affect cardiac autonomic modulation in transgender men.