Women's Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA)

November 2, 2017 updated by: Wake Forest University

Effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Cognitive Aging: Women's Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA)

The Women's Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA) is a two-armed, randomized, placebo controlled, clinical trial designed to assess the efficacy of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) on age related changes in specific cognitive functions.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

WHISCA is an ancillary study to the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) and has enrolled 2303 women aged 66 to 84 years who did not meet the criteria for dementia. WHISCA is investigating the effects of hormone therapy on rates of change over time in memory, other aspects of cognition (language, attention, spatial ability), motor function, and mood.

Objectives

  • Does HT protect against age-associated memory and cognitive longitudinal decline in women age 65 and older?
  • What is the rate of change in memory and other cognitive abilities in women receiving HT compared to women receiving placebo?
  • Does the addition of progesterone to HT modify the effects of estrogen on memory and other cognitive abilities?

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

2303

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • North Carolina
      • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, 27157
        • Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years to 90 years (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

A subset of women who were enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), who are at least 65 years old and not diagnosed with any type of dementia.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Enrolled in WHIMS
  • At least 65 years old
  • Not diagnosed with dementia

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Women younger than 65 years of age
  • Have dementia
  • not enrolled in WHIMS

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Determine if HT protect against age-associated memory and cognitive longitudinal decline in women age 65 and older as measured over time by a series of cognitive tests administered annually.
Time Frame: Annual assessment done annually.
The primary outcome measures are the changes in scores from a standardized neuropsychological assessment will be conducted annually. The battery is comprised primarily of tests of memory, and includes the following tests in specified order: the Prospective Memory Tests, Primary Mental Abilities Vocabulary Test, the California Verbal Learning Test, the Benton Visual Retention Test, Card Rotations Test, the Finger Tapping Test, the Letter and Semantic Fluency Test and the Digit Span Test. In addition, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and Geriatric Depression Scale will be administered.
Annual assessment done annually.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Determine the long-term effects of HT on changes in memory, other cognitive functions, and affect; and to investigate predictors of the transitions between normal aging and mild cognitive impairment and mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
Time Frame: measured over life of the study
Secondary outcome measures will examine relative differences in measures between enrollment in WHIMS and the termination of the WHIMS E+P trial and E-Alone trial and also examine the relative differences in measures comparing periods of time for each woman when she reported taking HT versus times she reported not taking HT.
measured over life of the study

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Wake Forest University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sally Shumaker, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 1999

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 28, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 28, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

March 7, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 6, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 2, 2017

Last Verified

June 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NO1-AG-9-2115

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

WHISCA will follow guidelines, methods and processes as set forth in the WHI 2015-2020 Data Sharing Plan. Accompanying the limited data sets, substantial electronic documentation will be provided in a standard format that is readable on a variety of platforms. Documentation will include data collection forms, a description of study protocol and procedures, description of all variable re-coding and a list of major study publications. These data will be available to users only under a data-sharing agreement that provides for: a commitment to using the data only for research purposes and not to identify any individual participant; a commitment to securing the data using appropriate computer technology; and a commitment to destroying or returning the data after analyses are completed. Data will be made available for timely release no later than the acceptance for publication of the main findings from the final dataset.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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