The Women's Health Initiative: Estrogen plus Progestin (WHI-EP)

Objectives:

To assess the major health benefits and risks of the most commonly used combined hormone preparation in the United States.

Background:

Despite decades of accumulated observational evidence, the balance of risks and benefits for hormone use in healthy postmenopausal women remains uncertain.

Subjects:

The estrogen plus progestin component of the Women's Health Initiative, a randomized controlled primary prevention trial in which 16,608 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years with an intact uterus at baseline were recruited by 40 US clinical centers in 1993-1998.

Conclusions:

Overall health risks exceeded benefits from use of combined estrogen plus progestin for an average 5.2-year follow-up among healthy postmenopausal US women. (JAMA 2002;288:321-333).