What Will I Be Asked To Do?
If you join the Sister Study, you will get a Sister Study Kit through the mail. The Kit contains study information, questionnaires, and material to use when collecting urine, toenail, and household dust samples.
We will ask you to complete several study requirements in the weeks immediately following your enrollment. We’ll then ask you to complete a set of follow-up requirements over the next 10 years:
During the first few weeks we will ask you to —
- Agree to have a fasting blood sample drawn by a female professional
staff person from a company called EMSI (Examination
Management Services, Inc.), which specializes in medically related
home visits. The EMSI examiner can come to your home or place of
work. During her visit, she will measure your height and weight,
hip and waist circumference, and blood pressure.
- Collect a sample of your—
- first urine of the day
- toenail clippings
- house dust - Complete the 4 questionnaires that are included in this Sister Study
Kit. They should take a total of about 90 minutes to complete. The
EMSI examiner will pick up the filled-out questionnaires from you when
she comes to draw your blood.
- Complete a detailed phone interview, which will be conducted in two parts, each part lasting about an hour.
After these initial activities are completed, we’ll ask you to —
- Keep us updated each year on any changes to your address, phone
number or health status. We will provide you with forms so that you
can notify us about important changes as soon as they occur. Or,
you may call and report these changes to the Sister Study Help Desk
at 1-877-4SISTER (toll-free) and follow the directions for enrolled
participants.
- Fill out a questionnaire or do a telephone interview every other
year you are in the study.
- If you are diagnosed with breast cancer while you are in the study, we will ask for your permission to contact your doctor for information about your breast cancer, and to get additional biological samples. You may choose whether to grant us permission to do this at that time. If you are diagnosed with some other type of cancer, or a disease such as osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, or autoimmune disease, we may also ask you for permission to contact your doctor to get additional information about the condition.
There is no cost to you for participation. We have sent you a phone card in the Sister Study Kit in appreciation of your contribution to this research. We will also send you information about your diet based on your answers to the Diet Questionnaire and a urine glucose (sugar) report based on the urine sample you provide.
The Sister Study does not offer any diagnosis or treatment for illnesses. We will not give you or anyone else the results of individual tests we perform. We will provide you with a report on your diet and urine glucose, as well as information about your blood pressure and body mass index (BMI). Overall results from the study, however, will be available through study newsletters, emails, articles on the Sister Study web site, and reports in scientific publications.