WHI

To enhance the scientific richness of the outcome database for heart failure in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) cohort. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 1991 to address the most common causes of death, disability and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women. The WHI addressed cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. The WHI was a 15 year multi-million dollar endeavor, and one of the largest U.S. prevention studies of its kind. The Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\’s Department of Biostatistics is abstracting information from hospital records already obtained under direction of the WHI project and validating whether identified cases contained heart failure events. For events that are classified as being heart failure, the sub-type of heart failure (systolic or diastolic) will be determined.