Att.30A Invitation letters AARP Cohort

Dear AARP Member:

Thank you for your continued participation in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which started in 1995. Information from study members in the past 15 years has resulted in significant research activities with more than 200 scientific publications regarding diet, lifestyle, and cancer; and, other health outcomes. We have learned a tremendous amount, but there is still more to learn.

I am happy to announce that AARP is working with the National Institutes of Health on a very important new research project about diet and health. This is the third in an ongoing series of groundbreaking studies we have partnered with NIH. The goal of this study is to examine your food intake and activities over the coming year. Your participation will include completing a series of questionnaires and several visits to a clinic in Pittsburgh, PA. Researchers will obtain some important clinical measurements and samples and compare them to questionnaires you complete.

I’d like to ask you to think about participating in this research project because I believe it has the potential to increase our understanding of the impact diet and activity measurements have on health research among midlife and older adults in the United States and globally.

The opportunity to volunteer is only being offered to AARP members who have agreed to be contacted. I hope that you will agree with me that this effort is not too much for you to undertake to help make a difference in the lives of millions of Americans like you, your family members and friends.

On the back is a letter from Drs. Heather Bowles and Yikyung Park of the National Institutes of Health. It provides more detail about the study and what participation involves. To become a participant, please follow the instructions provided by Drs. Bowles and Park.

AARP is pleased to be assisting with this important study. I hope you will take the time to participate.

Sincerely,

A. Barry Rand

Chief Executive Officer

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Dear «First» «Last»:

Thank you for your continued participation in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. We are including our latest newsletter that tells you how to find out about all the research and information that has been learned through your study participation.

At this time, we are asking current NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study members living in the Pittsburgh, PA area to join with us in a new study called iDATA, which stands for the interactive Diet and Activity Tracking of AARP. Your participation will include answering questionnaires and visiting our clinic in Pittsburgh, PA. This research is so important and your contribution so valuable that if you are eligible, choose to participate, and complete the one-year study, you will receive $450 for your time and effort.

The goal of iDATA is to compare answers from diet and activity questionnaires to clinical measurements to see if the questionnaires capture accurate and meaningful information. Eligible study members who agree to participate will be asked to visit our research clinic up to four times over a period of 12 months. If you need help getting to the clinic, we can provide study-sponsored transportation. You will be asked to come to the clinic at the beginning of the study, half-way through at 6 months, and at the end of the study. One visit will take about 6 hours and the others will take about one hour each. During visits, you will participate in health and fitness tests and give blood and urine samples. At home, we will ask you to complete monthly web-based questionnaires and to collect urine and saliva samples twice throughout the year. You will need access to high-speed internet to participate in this study.

This is the first time that NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study members have been given the opportunity to participate in-person with our ongoing research. Participation is voluntary and, as always, the information you provide will be kept private under the Privacy Act.  We will not disclose any personal identifying information about you; results are always reported as groups.  If you are interested and want to find out if you are eligible for this study, please call us at 1-800-###-####. For more information about the study, see the enclosed iDATA brochure.  And, please remember that talking to the study staff does not obligate you to participate any further. 

Sincerely,

Heather Bowles, Ph.D. Co-Project Director, iDATA National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute

Yikyung Park, Sc.D. Co-Project Director, iDATA National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute