PCOS Genetics study

Emantha · 06-17-2005, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Thank you for contacting the PCOS Research Study at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois.

Due high volumes of calls and e-mails, it may take us over a week to get back to you. Please keep this delay in mind. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to speaking with you as soon as we can.

The primary focus of our study is on women with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) or irregular periods, and whether certain genes may increase a person’s chance of getting PCOS. There is no treatment involved with participation in our research study. We are looking for women with PCOS or irregular periods who are not on any form of oral contraceptives or hormone treatments. However, if you are currently taking oral contraceptives or other hormones, there may still be a way to include you in the study. If this is the case, and you are still interested, please give us a call. You may be eligible to participate whether you live in the Chicago area, or anywhere in the United States. The basic criteria to participate in this study is that women need to be between the ages of 18 and 45, have 6 or fewer periods per year, and have family members willing to participate. At a minimum, we need to have both of your biological parents willing to participate, and as many biological siblings as possible. If both parents are not able to participate, we would accept 1 parent and 2 siblings. The involvement for your family would include a one-time blood draw, which could be arranged at a hospital or clinic in their area.

If you do not live in the Chicago area, participation would not require any travel on your part. We would have a blood kit mailed directly to your home and make arrangements with a local hospital or clinic to have your blood drawn. They would bill us directly for the blood draw and shipment of the samples back to our facilities at Northwestern University Medical School. Once the blood is sent back to us, we would perform various hormone and genetic analyses. If a woman is qualified as having PCOS in our study, we then need to get DNA samples from as many of her immediate family members as possible (parents and siblings) so that we can perform hormone and genetic analyses on their blood to trace the inheritance patterns of the syndrome.

If you live in the Chicago area, you are eligible to participate in the national study (as detailed above) by having your blood drawn at Northwestern, or we can arrange for you to go to a local hospital or clinic. There are additional studies that you may be interested in learning about if you live in the area.

Healthy Volunteers: We are also looking for both male and female healthy volunteers, to participate in our study if you are located in the Chicago area.

If you are interested in the study, please contact a study coordinator at 1-800-847-6060. We could screen you over the phone and answer any additional questions or concerns you may have. We are typically available between 9 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday.

For more information, please visit our website www.endocrine.northwestern.edu/pcos

We appreciate your interest in our research.

I don't qualify for this study, since both of by biological parents are deceased, and i haven't been able to find my sister, but i thought it might interest some of you who do have family that could help you participate in this study.
I am not sure i posted this in the right place, so forgive me, if it it should be somewhere else.

jun keater · 06-17-2005, 07:21 AM

I got the same letter. I doubt very much if I could get my father in to give any blood, so I'm not going to do it.

SkyDancer · 06-17-2005, 07:32 AM

I would love to do this but I am the only girl.....dont have any sisters....

Emantha · 06-18-2005, 08:01 AM

i read it as "siblings" not "sisters" so, if you have brothers, you should qualify.