Tracing Women Over Half a Century

Abstract

Cohort studies typically require repeated contacts with the same study participants over many years. In large-scale follow-up studies of women, it can be difficult to locate and maintain contact with participants because women are more likely to experience name changes through marriage and divorce and may be less visible in public records, particularly contemporary elderly women. This article reports on the methods used in 1990 and 1991 to trace 998 participants of the Women's Health Study (WHS) who were enrolled during the 1930s in the Menstruation and Reproductive History study, a longitudinal study on menstruation and reproduction. Some of these women had been lost to follow-up for nearly 50 years. This article reviews the strategies used to locate the WHS participants.