Skip Navigation


IJE Advance Access originally published online on July 17, 2006
International Journal of Epidemiology 2006 35(4):814-816; doi:10.1093/ije/dyl133
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
35/4/814    most recent
dyl133v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Michels, K. B
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Michels, K. B
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2006; all rights reserved.

Editorial

The women's health initiative—curse or blessing?

Karin B Michels1,2,*

1 Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

* Correspondence to: Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: kmichels@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Some 15 years ago, 3 weeks into her tenure as the first female director of the National Institutes of Health, Bernadine Healy, MD, announced to Congress plans for a new and ‘holistic’ study: the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). Hopes were high for the ambitious project. The largest randomized controlled trial (RCT) in history, costing the government an estimated $700 million, was expected to provide definitive answers to three key questions in women's health: (i) whether hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reduces the risk of heart disease, (ii) whether a high fat consumption increases the incidence of breast cancer, and (iii) whether calcium and vitamin D supplements prevent fractures.

The main results for all three trial arms have now been released.1–4 The outcome of the mega-trial including more than 50 000 postmenopausal women randomized to one, two, or three of the factorial trials has left consumers confused and timid and doctors puzzled. . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
D. A Lawlor
Quality in epidemiological research: should we be submitting papers before we have the results and submitting more hypothesis-generating research?
Int. J. Epidemiol., October 1, 2007; 36(5): 940 - 943.
[Full Text] [PDF]