Join the Nurses’ Health Study – impacting women’s health for the past 35 years
Investigators at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital are asking female nurses between the ages of 22 and 45 to join the Nurses’ Health Study 3 (NHS3).This is one of the largest and longest running women’s health studies ever conducted.
I can’t actually remember when I started but it was in my other life—wife and mother, etc. I was probably in my late thirties and, thanks to my kids, everyone knows how old I am now. We started out with an extensive health history and sending blood samples through the mail. Wonder if that would be permitted now? We then received a box of cards that had a randomized treatment assignment. I was assigned to placebo aspirin and placebo beta-carotene, along with active vitamin E. Before you finished the cards of pills, another box would appear. Then questionnaires as to how faithful we were in taking the pills and more history. Nurses would send in pictures of themselves vacationing around the world holding their pill cards. We even got a newsletter showing this. Now, each year we get a questionnaire to update our information on health events and risk factors for disease, such as whether we smoke, exercise, or use postmenopausal hormone therapy. I even have to confess how much I weigh. Nurses at AAMC have been involved in clinical trials for a very long time. -Jean Judge BSN, RN, CPAN, Unit Educator, Edwards Surgical Pavilion
I’ve been in this study since 1989; it’s been a great experience to contribute to women’s health. I’m currently in a smaller “sub-study” this year and am looking at validation of the lifestyle questionnaires that they use. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get involved somehow! -Laura Norton MSN, RN, CNRN, Stroke Program Coordinator
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