Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment Surgery in Italy

This article reports on the first efforts of systematically collecting national data regarding the prevalence of transsexualism and sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in Italy. The Italian Ministry of Health and the clinics offering such treatment were asked to cooperate by providing their data. Various problems were encountered in data collection, mainly due to the missing standardization of the record procedures in the clinics. The number of persons who underwent SRS, their age, nationality, the type of surgery and the sex ratio are reported. The resulting prevalence, lower than in other countries, suggests that the data is not complete. A standardization of the record procedures would make accessible full data and allow a reliable evaluation of the prevalence of transsexualism in Italy.