What do the recent Womens Health Initiative data mean to the average menopausal women?
This large, multi-center study found that replacement with an equine estrogen and progestogen combination caused a higher incidence of dementia, breast cancer, heart disease and blood clotting than in those women on a placebo (“sugar pill”). In interpreting the results, there are important caveats that need to be remembered: 1) Women were started on hormone replacement in their sixties and some experts feel that starting treatment earlier may have resulted in more benefits. 2) The data was derived from using equine estrogen derived from pregnant mares. Whether the use of a soy-based, biologically identical estrogen would have changed the results is unclear. 3) The decision to discontinue the study was not without dissenters. Significantly, researchers conducting a similar trial called WISDOM in the United Kingdom, reviewed the data from the WHI trial and unanimously voted to continue on with their trial, given the lack of statistical significance of difference in risks in the WHI trial
