Investigating Healthcare Utilization Trajectories and Health Outcomes Among Transgender Individuals in Ontario

This cross-sectional study identified and linked health administrative data for transgender individuals (N=2,085) in Ontario, Canada. Transgender individuals were identified through data obtained from four outpatient community and hospital clinics and then linked with ICES to examine the sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions, and health service use among transgender individuals compared with the general population. The degree to which neighbourhood-level marginalization mediates mental health service use among transgender individuals was also examined. Key study results suggest that transgender individuals are more likely to live in lower-income neighbourhoods, experience higher rates of chronic health conditions, and have higher health service use compared with the general population. This study demonstrated the need to improve the capacity to identify transgender individuals in administrative health data to understand the factors underlying their high rates of disease burden and mental health disparities.