Background

About the Study

The British Women's Heart and Health Study (BWHHS) is a prospective cohort study of cardiovascular disease in women aged over 60 years, in England, Scotland and Wales. 

Set up by Professor Shah Ebrahim in 1999 to complement the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS), to describe and establish risk factors and the differences in their impact in women compared to the men followed up by the BRHS. 

The study selected women at random from 24 GP practices, in 23 towns from 1999 to 2000. Of the 7296 invited, 4286 (60%) were recruited and attended the baseline examinations and completed questionnaires. 

Follow up consisted of postal questionnaires and regular reviews of GP medical records. Please see Data Collection for further information.

Full details of the study can be found in the original protocol-pdf and in the screening protocol-pdf

Consent

All participants provided informed, signed consent at the beginning of the study, baseline consent-pdf. Further consent forms were included with the follow up questionnaires in 2003 2003-consent-pdf, 2007 2007-consent-pdf and 2011 2011-consent-pdf.

The study also has Section 60/Section 251 approval from 2003 to present, from the Confidentiality Advisory Group at the Health Research authority. 

Funding

The study is currently funded by the British Heart Foundation and has been since 2009. The Department of Health funded the study from when it began until 2012.

Ethical Approval

Approval was granted in March 1999 from the Local Research Ethics Committees to each of the 23 towns where the 24 local GP practices participating in the study were situated. 

Joint approval was granted from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee  with the British Regional Heart Study.