Estimation of radiation disability weights for transgender patients enables quantitative justification of radiological procedures

Objectives By expressing radiation detriment in terms of disability-weighted life years (DALY) it is possible to quantify the balance between medical benefit and radiation detriment for medical exposures. This method is applied to a representative transgender population. Methods The lifetime DALY detriment with age at acute radiation exposure to a unit 1 Sv is calculated for a range of transgender combinations of organs and ages at transition, and the results are fitted to a simple model. When scaled by effective dose, the rates of change of the fits are equivalent to disability weights as used in the calculation of DALY. Results The radiation disability weights vary slightly with organ combinations and age at transition for transgender populations, but are generally less that the radiation disability weights established for males and females. Conclusions The radiation detriment to the transgender population from medical exposures is generally slightly less than that for male and female populations. Advances in knowledge In general the ratios of benefit to detriment for transgender patients undergoing radiological procedures are large, and not significantly different from those for male and female patients.