During the first few weeks of participation women are asked to —

1. 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 the woman's home or place of work. During her visit, she measures height and weight, hip and waist circumference, and blood pressure.
   
   
2. Collect a sample of participant's —
   

   - first urine of the day
   - toenail clippings
   - house dust

3. 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 picks up the completed questionnaires when she comes to draw blood.
   
   
4. Complete a detailed phone interview, which is conducted in two parts, each part lasting about an hour.

 After these initial activities are completed, participants are asked to —

1. Keep us updated each year on any changes to address, phone number or health status. We provide forms so that participants can notify us about important changes as soon as they occur. Or, they 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.
   
   
2. Fill out a questionnaire or do a telephone interview every other year they are in the study.
   
   
3. If participants are diagnosed with breast cancer while in the study, we ask for permission to contact their doctor for information about their breast cancer, and to get additional biological samples. Participants may choose whether to grant us permission to do this at that time. If women are diagnosed with some other type of cancer, or a disease such as osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, or autoimmune disease, they will also be asked for permission to contact their doctor to get additional information about the condition.

There is no cost for participating. We send a phone card in the Sister Study kit in appreciation for contributing to this research. We also send participants information about their diet based on answers to the Diet Questionnaire and a urine glucose (sugar) report based on the urine sample they provide.

The Sister Study does not offer any diagnosis or treatment for illnesses. We will not give anyone the results of individual tests we perform. We provide participants with a report on their diet and urine glucose, as well as information about their 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.

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