# Effect of pubertal hormones on Headache in Transmasculine Adolescents

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2024 · $224,950

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Headache has been one of the top three causes of disability adjusted life years for the past three decades
among adolescents and young adults. The inspiration for this research comes from the disproportionately
higher burden that falls on girls and women starting in puberty, when prevalence rises more quickly in girls
than boys, then continues to be higher in women throughout the middle years of life. Puberty also appears to
be a sensitive period in brain development when sex differences in regions key to headache such as the
amygdala are driven by pubertal hormones. Despite these sex differences, the role of pubertal hormones such
as estrogen and testosterone are not yet well-enough understood to be targets for prevention. This proposal is
focused on the innovative study of gender affirming hormone therapy with testosterone in transmasculine
adolescents as a model of puberty in which the timing of estrogen and testosterone changes are controlled.
The aims of this proposal are to 1) determine association between gender affirming hormone therapy with
testosterone in adolescence and headache in a cross-sectional study from in a multi-center health record
database, 2) determine change in headache burden in response to gender affirming hormone therapy with
testosterone and 3) determine changes in brain structure and function in response to gender affirming
hormone therapy with testosterone. The scientific objective of this proposal is to start to outline the key points
in development at which pubertal hormones can alter risk for headache and the physiologic underpinning for
this alteration. These targets can then be applied in future clinical studies of hormonal management of
headache in adolescence.
This is a five-year career development research proposal. I am currently an Assistant Professor at the
University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Child Neurology at
Children’s Hospital Colorado. The outlined proposal builds on my previous research and clinical experience in
neuroimaging of pubertal brain development and pediatric headache by expanding to a model of transgender
adolescent headache. The proposed research and training plan will prepare me with a unique skillset for
translational research as an independent clinician scientist in the emerging field of the effect of sex steroids on
neurologic conditions in transgender youth and in headache sex differences research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10808704
- **Project number:** 1K23NS130143-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Hranilovich
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $224,950
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-02-15 → 2029-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10808704

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10808704, Effect of pubertal hormones on Headache in Transmasculine Adolescents (1K23NS130143-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10808704. Licensed CC0.

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