The Three Generations Study (3Gs) is a follow-up study of women whose mothers enrolled in the CHDS between 1959 and 1967. The purpose of the study is to look at causes of breast cancer and other diseases affecting women that may pass from one generation to the next or be caused by things in the environment. Participation in this current study does not involve medical treatment and therefore poses minimal risk.
The 3Gs study is funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). Created by the State Legislature in 1993, the CBCRP is the largest state-funded breast cancer research program in the nation and is administered by the University of California, Office of the President. To date, the CBCRP has awarded 860 grants to 98 scientific institutions and community organizations, totaling over $205 million for research in California to prevent, treat, and cure breast cancer.
Women who participated in the CHDS as infants or in follow-up studies through childhood will be asked to participate in the study. Study participation includes two levels—a telephone interview and an in-person visit that includes blood, urine, and saliva collection. At this time, we are only able to conduct in-person visits with participants who reside in California, Washington, and Oregon and about 1 in 4 of participants who are located in other states. You will be notified in the invitation letter whether you have been identified as eligible for the in-person visit.
The Survey Research Group at the Public Health Institute will call you to conduct an over-the-phone interview about you, your health, and your health behavior. Telephone interview data will be encrypted and transferred back to the CHDS for analysis and storage.
If you are selected to participate in the in-person visit portion of the study, a female certified phlebotomist (a person who is certified to draw blood) or licensed practical nurse will visit you. The examiner will be from a company called Examination Management Services, Inc (EMSI), or ClinForce, depending on the location of the visit. These companies specialize in medically related in-person visits. The examiner will collect a blood, urine, and saliva sample and measure your height, weight, and waist circumference.
All biological samples and study information is recorded and stored only with your assigned study number. Biological samples will be stored at the Children's Environmental Health Laboratory and the School of Public Health Biorepository at the University of California, Berkeley.
No names or identifying information will be stored with any study data. Please see our Privacy Practices page to learn more about how we protect your confidentiality.
No. We will be asking about risk factors for many diseases, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and other types of cancers. These are all important health concerns for women. Large cohort studies, such as the Child Health and Development Studies, are valuable because they allow scientists to study many health conditions. It also allows scientists to look at how, why, and when diseases develop because we have data from birth to adulthood. This greatly increases the value of the important information you have shared.
The information you provide in the interview and the blood, urine, and saliva samples you provide in the home visit will be a valuable resource for research into prenatal and environmental causes of breast cancer and other diseases. The information you contribute will build on interviews and blood samples obtained from your mother and your childhood, allowing scientists an opportunity to explore causes of disease that may pass from one generation to the next or be caused by things in the environment. It is unlikely that the study results will benefit you individually, but they have the potential to improve the health of others and future generations.
Because your family participated in the CHDS almost 50 years ago, no one can replace you in our continuing studies. The information you provide will be a valuable resource for women's health research. Building on what we have already learned from your family's participation, we can extend our research to the 2nd and 3rd generations, allowing scientists an opportunity to explore causes of disease that may pass from one generation to the next or be caused by things in the environment. It is unlikely that the study results will benefit you individually, but they have the potential to improve the health of others and future generations. Participation in this current study does not involve medical treatment and therefore poses minimal risk.
The CHDS gets address information from various sources. You may have provided this information during a previous study participation contact, your family member may have given it to us so that we could invite you to participate in the study, or it may have come from participant follow-up we do with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Please see our Privacy Practices page to learn more about how we protect your confidentiality.
Please see our Privacy Practices page to learn more about how we protect your confidentiality.
