Study showing puberty blockers do not improve kids’ mental health not published for fear of being ‘weaponized’

The pediatrician behind a groundbreaking study showing that puberty blockers did not lead to mental health improvements among young people, claimed her team has not yet published the findings to avoid them being “weaponized” by critics of transgender medical procedures.

A report published by The New York Times on Wednesday quoted Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the medical director of The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, who stated that they hadn’t published the results of the two-year study, for fear of them fueling political attacks.

“I do not want our work to be weaponized. It has to be exactly on point, clear and concise. And that takes time,” Olson-Kennedy told the outlet.

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Started in 2015, Olson-Kennedy’s study – which was funded by the National Institutes of Health – involved testing puberty blockers on 95 children around the age of 11 from across the country and seeing if the treatments improved their mental health.

The doctor told The Times that two years after her trials began, her team did not find evidence that the puberty blockers improved the mental health of her young subjects. Olson-Kennedy stated she believed this result may have been because the children were mentally well at the start of the trial.

“They’re in really good shape when they come in, and they’re in really good shape after two years,” she said. However, The New York Times noted that the assessment “seemed to contradict an earlier description of the group, in which Dr. Olson-Kennedy and her colleagues noted that one quarter of the adolescents were depressed or suicidal before treatment.”

The outlet confronted Dr. Olson-Kennedy on why the findings were never published nearly a decade after the trials began. “She said the findings might fuel the kind of political attacks that have led to bans of the youth gender treatments in more than 20 states, one of which will soon be considered by the Supreme Court,” it reported.

The pediatrician said that she will publish the data at some point and mentioned that the delay was also due in part to the NIH cutting funding for her study. She said that decision was made for political reasons as well.

The institute denied the political allegations to the New York Times, and did not reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on why it cut funding to Olson-Kennedy’s project. 

The doctor, who the outlet described as “one of the country’s most vocal advocates of adolescent gender treatments” and who has been “an expert witness in many legal challenges to the state bans,” added that she was worried her study’s results could be used by opponents of the treatment to argue that “we shouldn’t use blockers because it doesn’t impact” youth.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 20: Trans rights activists take part in a protest against the ban on hormone blockers on April 20, 2024 in London, England.  ( (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images))

However, not everyone involved in Olson-Kennedy’s trials agree. Boston College clinical and research psychologist Amy Tishelman, who was one of the original researchers on the study, told the paper, “I understand the fear about it being weaponized, but it’s really important to get the science out there.”

Olson-Kennedy’s insistence on not publishing the data comes as researchers from other nations have published findings discounting puberty blockers’ ability to improve the mental health of transitioning youth. 

The United Kingdom’s National Health Services (NHS) published findings from a 2020 independent review of gender-affirming care services for children and teens led by Dr. Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Cass’ review concluded there was “no good evidence” for the medical push to transition children’s gender, noting it had been “built on shaky foundations.”

The report also found that puberty blockers did not help youth suffering from gender dysphoria feel better about their bodies, noting that evidence on the treatments’ mental effects was insufficient.

Dr. Cass knocked Dr. Olson-Kennedy’s decision to delay publishing her findings, telling The New York Times, “It’s really important we get results out there so we understand whether it’s helpful or not, and for whom.”

Cass, whose study prompted the National Health Service to prevent physicians in England to prescribe puberty blockers to kids due to lack of evidence of their clinical effectiveness, added that she believes Olson-Kennedy’s delay has left an impression among the public that puberty blockers improve mental health among youngsters.

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Neither Cass nor Olson-Kennedy reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.