7.4 Menopausal Psychosis and Hormone Therapy: FLAWED Women's Health Initiative/WHI Study

Renegade Psych

In this segment, Drs. Wood, Grider, and I discuss the flaws of the large NIH-sponsored Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Study that was intended to provide more clarity on the role of hormones during female transitional periods and its impact on the use of female reproductive hormones after 2002. The WHI was a 10+ year endeavor studying thousands upon thousands of female patients and evaluating the safety of utilizing different combinations of hormones (at a time when hormone replacement therapy was popular, with 15% of the female population taking it). The results came out in 2002 and were widely reported by the media as negative and associated hormones with significant risks of different forms of cancers and cardiovascular disease primarily. The only problem was... the average age in the study was >63, and the majority of women had already completed menopause and were therefore hormone naive. WE KNOW re-introducing medium or high levels of our natural hormones at a time in life when it has become unnatural IS DANGEROUS. Later re-analyses of this study, when we parse out the women who are IN THE MENOPAUSAL TRANSITION PHASE, or UNDER THE AGE OF 50, there is actually a decreased cardiovascular risk, and any increase in the risk of breast cancer is likely offset by the decreased risk of colon cancer. Unfortunately, the mass media widely reported on the negative findings, but interestingly, did not report on the positive re-analyses of the data. This led to a massive discontinuation of hormone therapy, with 50% of women in the US on hormone therapy stopping it abruptly in a 6-month period. As a skeptic, I wonder if it was another way the steamrolling train of industry was able to demonize an older, more natural form of treatment, to make way for newer synthetic and thereby patentable (and profitable) medications/treatments. Anyways, hope you enjoy our discussion and it gives good food for thought!

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