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. 2025 Aug;14(15):e70774.
doi: 10.1002/cam4.70774.

A Scoping Review Mapping Trans* and Gender Diverse People's Representation in Cancer Research

Morgan Stirling  1 , Michaela A Bourque  2 , Mikayla Hunter  1 , John Queenan  3 , Claire Ludwig  4 , Janice Ristock  5 , Lyndsay Harrison  6 , Amanda Ross-White  7 , Nathan C Nickel  8 , Annette Schultz  2 , Versha Banerji  9   10 , Jacqueline Gahagan  11 , Alyson Mahar  3
Affiliations

A Scoping Review Mapping Trans* and Gender Diverse People's Representation in Cancer Research

Morgan Stirling et al. Cancer Med. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Trans* and gender diverse people (TGD) are at risk of experiencing inequities across the cancer continuum. While limited evidence suggests cancer is a concern for TGD people, few systematic reviews or other knowledge syntheses exist that can guide efforts to improve the evidence base and address the inequities TGD people face in cancer care.

Methods: Our team conducted a mixed methods scoping review exploring how cancer affects TGD people. We extracted data on cancer type and phase of the cancer continuum, gender definition operationalization, results, and TGD engagement. We followed JBI's meta-aggregation approach for mixed methods reviews by qualitizing quantitative data through narrative interpretation and pooling to integrate the extracted data.

Results: A search of multiple databases yielded 5986 titles after de-duplication. Reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and identified 511 citations for full text review, and 55 were included for data extraction. Thirty studies reported on cancer screening, most of which focused on sex-based cancers. There was significant variation in terminology used to describe TGD people. We observed a lack of breadth in data used among included studies, limiting the generalizability of results. Six studies engaged TGD people. Few studies investigated cancer outcomes or experiences during the diagnosis and survivorship phases; few focused on survival or mortality outcomes.

Conclusion: We observed significant gaps in the body of research on TGD people and cancer. Efforts to improve the evidence base are needed to address knowledge gaps about TGD people's cancer experiences and outcomes and ensure the delivery of inclusive, evidence-based cancer care is possible.

Keywords: cancer; gender minorities; health equity; scoping review; trans and gender diverse people.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Study flow chart.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Terminology to describe the sample using the umbrella approach.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
TGD identity‐specific terminology used to describe the sample.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Approaches used to identify TGD people in studies.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Data sources used in studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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