Is anyone involved with a long-term national study?

[TheBitchOfTheVicar]

Listening to a R4 programme, apparently 30,000 people are involved in a shopping survey, scanning all shopping and receipts, to give an idea of the nation's shopping habits. Also there is that 7up survey. And presumably some twins and multiples studies.

Is anyone here involved in one they would like to share? I have nothing to contribute; just being nosey!

Yes - been tracked from birth via British Cohort Study 1970 bcs70.info There will be thousands of us turning 50 this week. I was half thinking about starting a thread about it to see if there are any BCS70 MNers out there

I'm quite proud to be part of it as a lot of the findings have influenced child development policies - something which is relevant to my work.

Wow. That's really interesting lake.
How did you come to do that. Were your parents approached to sign up for it?
Do you have to complete regular surveys then about your life?

Yes - currently there's a new survey about every five years. The last one had a fitness focus - I wore a movement monitor and there was a blood test and a lot of health related questions.

It started as a way of checking what impact a mothers' actions in pregnancy had on the health of the baby so my Mum had to agree to take part. At the time (1970) a high proportion of women smoked during pregnancy as the health affects weren't understood. It was one of the first studies to indicate that it had a negative impact.

I think it was intended as a one-off but the results were so useful that all the families that took part were tracked down and asked to take part in another survey age 5 (which I can remember) and it carried on from there.

There are other longitudinal surveys taking place - the one before mine started in 1958 cls.ucl.ac.uk/cls-studies/ The UK seems to be quite unusual in running this kind of long-term study.

I’m involved in the breast cancer one:
www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/research-clinical-trials/generations-study

I really recommend this book if you're interested in what has come out of the British cohort studies.

It's fascinating..

This is the blurb and link is below:

The remarkable story of a unique series of studies that have touched the lives of almost everyone in Britain today

In March 1946, scientists began to track thousands of children born in one cold week. No one imagined that this would become the longest-running study of human development in the world, growing to encompass five generations of children. Today, they are some of the best-studied people on the planet, and the simple act of observing human life has changed the way we are born, schooled, parent and die. This is the tale of these studies and the remarkable discoveries that have come from them. Touching almost every person in Britain today, they are one of our best-kept secrets.

'If you ever wondered whether the circumstances of your early life steered you along a particular path, look no further than this book ... highly readable ... a goldmine of social history' Eric Kaufmann, Literary Review

'Hugely engaging ... the scientists are an irresistibly eccentric, passionate bunch' Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

The Life Project: The Extraordinary Story of Our Ordinary Lives https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141976616/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_PDjIEbBCBTB9N

lakes I was born in 1972 so not far off you. That link is fascinating reading as someone of a similar age.

I've taken part in Flusurvey for several years. It usually tracks influenza-like illnesses in the community but it's also tracking CV now. It takes a few minutes to set up your profile then they send you a reminder every week. The check-in usually takes less than five seconds to tick a box, scroll down and fill in a number unless you have symptoms, in which case there are more boxes but it's still fast. It's a useful tool for PHE so it'd be good to get some more participants.

I did a survey about Brexit that you had to answer the day after the results, then one year later, then another year after that. Looking at how memories of major events change over time.

I'm in the breast cancer generations one too. I signed up about 15 years ago, alongside my Mum as they were especially looking for patterns across family members.

I’m part of the breast cancer one, and was part of an epilepsy in pregnancy study. They monitored my DS development till he was about 5. Was part of a weight study but they may have lost me as I moved house.

Dh is involved in the NCDS, tracking people born in 1958. They all received a hardback book this year with all the findings. It’s fascinating.

@wheresmymojo thanks for the link - that book looks really interesting. It's 50 years this week since BCS70 bcs70.info/ started and so the team have been in touch with a booklet that charts the history of the study so far and a summary of what they've found out. Apparently 1000 pieces of research have been carried out so far just using the data from the 1970 study.

This is all fascinating.

Those who have taken part - are you informed about results etc along the way? The book of findings sound fascinating. I appreciate that some people will be part of studies due to health problems - I hope it helped you.

We have contact every year at the time of our birthdays (the cohort study I'm in covers people born in one week in April 1970) to let us have updates on how the information has been used but also to try and keep the participants contact details up to date which is a big challenge for the people managing it.

Breast Cancer, get sent a questionnaire every 5 years

Breast Cancer Generations study - I did a couple of surveys and blood tests at the beginning and they update and resurvey us every now and then. It’s about a million women I think so there must be loads and loads of us on MN.

I also took part in the Interval study to work out whether it was safe to reduce the time between blood donations - another quite big one.

Oh, my mistake, it was just over 100,000. Still a lot.

I signed up to one when I was pregnant back in 2001. It was called HAPO and it's to do with maternal health and diabetes I think. I went with dd when she was 11 for a full day of tests and I think they want her to go again when she's 21. I just googled it and it'sthis one:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897007/

I’m another one taking part in the breast cancer generations study, signed up when it was first launched when I was about 18 and turning 35 this year.

I'm one of half a million middle aged people signed up to UK Biobank

We had to spend a day doing various health checks, exercises and questionnaires and since get sent online forms asking about things like diet from time to time. They won't tell us if there's anything wrong with us but it gives a wealth of data for researchers to tap into and hopefully it will give future generations a more preventive healthcare strategy.

I'm in the UK Biobank.

I also get occasional surveys from YouGov.

Am part of the breast cancer generations study.

We used to do the shop and scan but stopped when children came along as it was too much extra fuss.

Am also part of a study into antenatal and postnatal mental health.

An interesting range, though mostly health related.

The social/sociological: how did you get involved?

My son is part of the breathing together study... think the first time they saw him he was about a week old

breathingtogether.co.uk/about/

Loads of posters will be doing the breast cancer one, I think I've had about 4 questionnaires, no idea if or when we'll hear any concrete results.