The Women's Health Initiative

摘要

Earlier this year, after 12 years, 7.5 million forms, and 1 million clinic visits, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a major 15-year research program of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced its research findings about women and chronic diseases. It indicated that certain interventions to treat cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis were not as beneficial as thought. Conventional wisdom appeared to have been stood on its head, provoking strong reactions among scientists and the public: disbelief, disagreement, discouragement, and a fair measure of dissention and disharmony. Upon reflection, the results are reasonable, but we learned some lessons about how to clarify the broad application of findings as complex as those of the WHI. Now, in preparing to further delve into this rich resource of participant data, the WHI can make the mostof an unprecedented opportunity to understand the mechanisms by which disorders in women develop, how they can be prevented, and how interventions can confer benefits or risks.