Women's Health Initiative

About WHI

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is a long-term national health study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, or NHLBI. The original WHI study began in the early 1990s and concluded in 2005. Since 2005, the WHI has continued as Extension Studies, which are annual collections of health updates and outcomes in active participants. The second Extension Study enrolled 93,500 women in 2010 and follow-up of these women continues annually.

As with the original WHI study, the main areas of research are cardiovascular disease, cancers, and osteoporotic fractures. While WHI continues to focus on strategies to prevent the major causes of death, disability, and frailty in older women, the breadth and richness of the WHI data allow for the exploration and investigation of many more research questions on women’s health and aging.