Transgender adults in Rhode Island report poorer health and mental health than the rest of the population, according to a study published in the Rhode Island Medical Journal last month.
The group was more than three times more likely to report fair or poor overall health and more than four times more likely to have a disability, compared to Rhode Islanders who were not transgender.
Mental health disparities were especially significant: the group had more than three times the odds of reporting “frequent mental distress.” And about fifty percent said they suffered from depression.
“That’s really quite a striking number,” said Dr. Philip Chan, a professor of medicine at Brown University and one of the study’s authors.
The study was based on five years of data, taken from 2020 to 2024. Nearly 30,000 adults across Rhode Island were surveyed by phone.
Researchers found that one percent of Rhode Islanders identify as transgender, or about 10,000 people in the state.
“It’s not a large percentage, but it’s a significant number overall,” said Chan.
Why the disparities persist
There are multiple reasons that transgender people face health disparities, Chan said. For one, since the group is more likely to suffer from a mental illness, they also become more likely to experience poor physical health. He also said that transgender people are less likely to feel comfortable at a doctor’s office, which discourages people from seeking care for medical issues.
“I’ve taken care of a lot of these folks over time, and pretty much all of them have had bad or suboptimal experiences with the healthcare setting,” said Chan.
He also said that the political climate is a major cause of stress for his transgender patients.
“It’s clear that these attacks and just the anti-gender sense in this country is really having a large effect on this group,” said Chan. “Most of these people just want to be left alone. They just want to live their lives. They just want to be respected and treated like anyone else.”
Signs of progress in Rhode Island
Health disparities have been widely documented for transgender people across America. Like in Rhode Island, transgender adults are more likely to experience poor health, frequent mental distress, depression and disability.
But the June study illuminated a few bright spots for the Ocean State.
While in the rest of the country transgender adults are more likely to suffer from chronic disease, Rhode Island’s transgender population matched the rest of the population.
And transgender Rhode Islanders had similar rates of health insurance coverage and access to a primary care provider as the rest of the state. Transgender Rhode Islanders were also on par with the rest of the state’s population for having a medical checkup in the past year.
“That’s, I think, reflective of a lot of the policies in Rhode Island,” said Chan. “I’m proud of our state in general and we try to do right by people.”
Closing the health gap
Chan says he hopes that the study will spur healthcare providers and regulators to focus on helping close the gap in health further.
“This is really the first step,” said Chan.
