In 2004, data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study show that women who take estrogen in combination with the hormone progestin have a greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who take estrogen alone and that estrogen-alone hormone replacement therapy has no overall benefit in disease prevention, specifically on the risks of breast and colorectal cancer.

Presentation of data to the medical and nonmedical community must be made as clearly as possible. In a study with multiple publications, the data should be presented in comparable format from report to report, and the host journal and the authors have a responsibility to consider the data and implications in clinical context and to invite critique and discourse.