Media coverage of transgender issues appears to trigger immediate increases in presentation of children and teens at gender clinics, a study shows.

The finding is consistent with anecdotal evidence that transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth cite media attention as a catalyst to seek assistance, the Australian and UK researchers say.

They assessed the link between new patient referrals at two publicly-funded specialist paediatric clinics — the Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service in Melbourne and the Gender Identity Development Service in London — and media coverage of TGD issues from 2009-16.

During that period, 558 youth in Australia (45% assigned male at birth) and 4684 young people in the UK (40% assigned male at birth) were referred to the two clinics, mainly by primary care doctors.