top of page

Gender-affirming Hormones - Information on Blood Tests

BLOOD TAKING CENTRE AT PRINCE OF WALES HOSPITAL (PWH)

Service hours

  • Monday to Friday: 8am – 5pm

  • Saturday: 8:30am – 1pm

 

If attendees of the Gender Identity Clinic is required of blood tests, they would have blood taking at PWH.

  • If a blood tests include hormone(s), blood taking should be done at least 2 weeks before the appointment, to allow sufficient time for the results to be processed, and to be ready before the appointment.

​

One may book a time session for blood taking with an investigation reminder form. If no booking is made, there would be a longer waiting time by then.

  • Items to be tested can be found at the bottom of the form.

    • For sex hormones, it would usually labelled as (female) or (male), as the system would have this indication corresponding to one's gender marker on HKID.

  • No eating or drinking 8 hours before blood taking.

    • Drinking water is allowed.

      • Recommended to drink sufficient water, for blood vessels to be found easier during blood taking, and avoid overestimation of items (E.g. hemoglobin, hematocrit, etc).

    • Continue taking medications (If any)

    (On the other hand, prior to surgeries, completely no eating or drinking is usually required. Please inquire with healthcare professionals for details by then)

    ​

    Items that require fasting

    • Fasting blood glucose

    • Lipid profile (Including total cholesterol, high-density cholesterol (HDL), low-density cholesterol (LDL), and triglycerides)

檢驗備忘表（或稱「抽血紙」）

GENERAL TARGET RANGES

Gender-affirming hormones therapy is customized to meet the individual needs of the person, while the targeted range only serves as reference. Each hospital or laboratory may also produce slightly differnet values. Please consult your doctor for details.

​

The following is referenced with the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

FOR USERS OF ESTROGEN & ANDROGEN BLOCKER

Item

SI unit

Other units

Estradiol (E2)

367 - 734 pmol/L

100 - 200 pg/mL

Testosterone, total

<1.73 nmol/L

<50 ng/dL (<50 ng/mL)

FOR USERS OF TESTOSTERONE

Item

SI unit

Other units

Testosterone, total

13.87−24.27 nmol/L

400–700 ng/dL (4–7 ng/mL)

INTAKE OF MEDICATIONS & TIMING OF BLOOD TAKING

  • If one is using estrofem, blood taking is uaully done 4-6 hours or more after intake, to avoid an overestimation of results.

  • If one is using oestrogel, blood taking is uaully done 4-6 hours or more after applying the gel, to avoid an overestimation of results. If one is applying the gel on upper limb, have blood taking on another arm.

Please follow your doctor's instructions. For details, please consult your doctor.

服用藥物與抽血時間

With reference to the graph above, after every intake of medicine, hormone level(s) would參考上圖：每次注射藥物後，荷爾蒙水平將

  • Increase

  • Reach the highest point (Or peak)

  • Decrease gradully

​

E.g. an injection done every 12 weeks:

  • If blood taking is done 6 weeks after injection, hormone level of the middle phase would be known.

  • If blood taking is done 10 weeks after injection, hormone level of the latter phase would be known. Often it is useful to know how low the hormone can reach between injections.

RECORDS OF BLOOD RESULTS AT PUBLIC HEALTHCARE

HA Go mobile application

  • Homepage > Record >

    My Record > Lab Report > Past 6-month/1-year/2-year records

2.png
bottom of page