Federal health officials plan to cut funding to the Women’s Health Initiative, effectively shuttering one of the largest and longest studies of women’s health ever carried out. Its findings changed medical practice and helped shape clinical guidelines, preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.
The study, which began in the 1990s when few women were included in clinical research, enrolled over 160,000 participants across the nation. It continues to follow some 42,000 women, tracking data on cardiovascular disease and aging, as well as frailty, vision loss and mental health.
Researchers have hoped to use the findings to learn more about how to maintain mobility and cognitive function and slow memory loss, detect cancer earlier and predict the risks of other diseases.
The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating contracts for the W.H.I.’s regional centers in September. The clinical coordinating center, based at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, will be funded through at least January 2026. The budget for 2025 is $9.3 million.
Whether the center will continue to receive support next year remains uncertain. Even if funding continues, the coordinating office relies on the regional centers to gather data from participants, and so its functions will be limited.
H.H.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Recently, a spokeswoman said cuts to such funding “are designed to ensure that every dollar is used more efficiently while continuing to focus on our core mission of improving public health and services.”