Menopause Day Keynote Lecture - A Decade Since the Women’s Health Initiative

Presenters

Needs Assessment and Description
The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is a long-term national health study that has focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women. These chronic diseases are the major causes of death, disability and frailty in older women of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Clinical trial results from the WHI have caused a major shift in prescribing for postmenopausal women in the United States and around the world. In large part this has been caused by a misinterpretation of the data and its propagation by the media. This live course for clinicians involved in the care of women will put the existing data into perspective and review current data which have emerged.

Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Describe how the data from the WHI studies have evolved and have been interpreted since their original publications.
2. Discuss relevant data that have been published in the last 10 years from both WHI investigators and others.

ACGME Competency
Medical Knowledge
Patient Care

TEST QUESTION:
A 50-year-old woman is suffering from severe hot flushes and night sweats. Her last menstrual period was one year ago. Her physician told her she should take soy because the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) studies showed that she will increase her risk of myocardial infarction after starting estrogen. After participating in this session, in my practice I will counsel this patient that the WHI data showed:

1. Estrogen/progestogen increases the risk of coronary disease in all women.
2. Estrogen alone decreases the risk of coronary disease in all women. 
3. Estrogen/progestogen increases the risk of coronary disease in women aged 50-59 years.
4. Estrogen alone decreases the risk of coronary disease in women aged 50-59 years. 
5. Not applicable to my area of practice.