The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), of which the University at Buffalo is the Northeast Regional Center, has been producing remarkable work related to post-menopausal women’s health for 30 years. A vital aspect of WHI relates to the evolution of junior researchers into experienced investigators continuing to add to the body of knowledge in ongoing studies about what keeps women healthy.
Some 400 ancillary WHI studies received additional funding over the past 30 years and more than 2,350 papers have been published based on WHI studies and findings. This longitudinal study focused on post-menopausal women’s health initially enrolled a diverse group of more than 161,000 participants nationwide, including nearly 4,000 women from Western New York, who donated some 5.3 million vials of blood and other biospecimens.
The true significance of WHI’s work, however, isn’t measured in numbers: It’s measured in the ongoing influence on clinical practice, the greater focus on women’s health, and, perhaps as importantly, on the careers of the scientists, researchers and students who have continuously mined WHI data for 30 years to gain new knowledge of what contributes to women’s healthy, long lives.
A landmark study
Though many of WHI’s findings made—and continue to make—headlines, an arguably as vital aspect of the study takes place behind the scenes, related to the evolution of junior researchers into experienced investigators continuing to add to the body of knowledge about what keeps women healthy.
Some of the University at Buffalo’s most prolific scientists and promising students are continuing to contribute to the body of knowledge encompassed by WHI. With the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funding WHI through 2027, the landmark study that “had a profound impact on the understanding of post-menopausal women’s health,” says Jean Wactawski-Wende, PhD, dean of the University of Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions and lead investigator for the entire northeast region of WHI, will remain a wellspring of knowledge creation on healthy aging and an invaluable engine to train and support research careers.
Ongoing discoveries
For instance, the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study (OPACH) used wearable devices to measure how physical activity impacts cardiovascular health in older women. Michael LaMonte, PhD, research professor of epidemiology and environmental health, is one of the national investigators on the study, which strove to understand the amount, type, and intensity of physical activity related to healthy cardiovascular aging in older women. A key result was that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ second set of Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans included the study’s data in the scientific evidence report informing the guidelines’ recommendations for older adults.
The newest OPACH findings related to physical activity and heart health have been covered widely in national and international media. The study — published in JAMA Cardiology — of nearly 6,000 US women aged 63-99 reports that, on average, 3,600 steps per day at a normal pace was associated with a 26% lower risk of developing heart failure.
The Long Life Study (LLS) brought in 7,875 people for clinical measurements and sample donations (biospecimens) in 2012-2013, with a follow-up assessment ongoing since 2022. LLS data and specimens are available to any researchers who could make use of its baseline data to conduct studies on various aspects of aging, health, and disease. In fact, according to Wactawski-Wende, sharing data is a hallmark of WHI, which “gave access to the data to researchers from across the country who needed it. Our goal in sharing the data was—and is—to boost the careers of the next generation of our trainees.”
MASS: Muscle and disease in post-menopausal women and Ms. LILAC (Muscle Mass in the Life and Longevity After Cancer [LILAC] Study) are two studies looking at the decline in lean body mass after menopause, seeking to understand which changes in muscle mass are associated with “normal” aging and which are caused by changes related to underlying age-related diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Defining this difference is a key to future interventions for a growing segment of the population. Research Assistant Professor Hailey Banack, PhD, and Wactawski-Wende are the primary investigators of these R01 studies funded by the National Institutes of Health including the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging.
TheRole of FSH in Postmenopausal Obesity and Breast Cancer study is to hone in on the role follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) plays during menopause and how it contributes to the development of post-menopausal obesity and breast cancer. It is the largest study of its kind in older women.
“Our hypothesis is that follicle stimulating hormone is driving weight gain, and the weight gain increases the risk of breast cancer,” says Heather Ochs-Balcom, associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health, and a principal investigator on the study with Jennifer W. Bea at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Wactawski-Wende is a co-investigator. A hormone released by the pituitary gland, FSH plays an important role in female development and reproduction by stimulating growth of the ovarian follicle before ovulation, Ochs-Balcom explains. The project is funded through a five-year R01 grant from NIH’s National Cancer Institute.
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The University at Buffalo was a proud sponsor of the 2024 ASPPH Annual Meeting for Academic Public Health.