Evaluation of terminology used to describe disorders of sex development J.H. Davies a, *, E.J. Knight a , A. Savage b , J. Brown c , P.S. Malone d a Paediatric Endocrinology, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Tremona Road, Southampton, UK, SO16 6YD b Clinical Child Psychology, Southampton Community Health Care Trust, Southampton, UK c Child Psychiatry, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK d Paediatric Urology, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK Received 3 April 2010; accepted 13 July 2010 Available online 14 August 2010 KEYWORDS Disorders of sex development; Intersex; Nomenclature; Taxonomy Abstract Objective: The terminology used to describe abnormalities of sex determination and sex differentiation was revised in 2006. It was anticipated that new terms, such as ‘disor- ders of sex development’ (DSD), would improve communication between health professionals, aid parental understanding and be acceptable to affected individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the new terminology. Subjects and methods: Using a questionnaire, we evaluated the acceptance of these new terms by parents of children with a DSD (n Z 19), health professionals (n Z 15) and parents of unaffected children (n Z 25). Results: Comparing the term ‘DSD’ to ‘intersex’, overall 86.4% of participants preferred the term ‘DSD’, and parents of a child with a DSD had an even higher preference (94.7%). Parents of an affected child considered the new term to improve their understanding of their child’s condition (83.3%), and to aid explanation by parent to affected child (82.4%) and to wider family and friends (84.2%). Health professionals preferred the genotype-based terms, whereas parents considered these terms confusing. Overall, 59.3% of participants agreed DSD was an acceptable new term. Conclusions: There was broad support for the new terminology by parents and health profes- sionals. The description ‘disorder of sex development’ may be helpful to parents at the time when it is not possible to assign gender, after which aetiologically based diagnoses should be used where possible. ª 2010 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 02380 796985; fax: þ44 02380 795230. E-mail address: justin.davies@suht.swest.nhs.uk (J.H. Davies). Journal of Pediatric Urology (2011) 7, 412e415 1477-5131/$36 ª 2010 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jpurol.2010.07.004