The WHI and the Postmenopausal Woman: No Magic Bullet

Introduction

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is the largest women’s health study in U.S. history. Begun in 1993 and completed in 2005, with follow-up scheduled through 2010, the WHI included over 161,000 postmenopausal women aged 50–79 years who were recruited into three large clinical trials and an observational study.1,2 Participants had to agree to a commitment of at least 5 years, during which they returned for follow-up multiple times, filled out detailed questionnaires, provided blood samples, and agreed to be randomized to treatment or placebo groups. The research program focused on strategies for preventing the most common health problems in postmenopausal women: heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and skeletal fractures…