The goal of this one-year pilot study is to plan a complex prospective epidemiologic investigation to study health outcomes in women physicians in the United States. The pilot study consists of the following aims: First, we will obtain names, addresses, birth dates and race for women physicians in the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Second, we will conduct one initial full mailing to a random sample of 10,000 of the approximately 122,000 women physicians inviting them to participate in the study. Two follow-up mailings will be sent sequentially to non respondents of the previous mailing. We will calculate response rates for each mailing. Third, we will estimate race and age-specific disease rates to determine how many years follow-up will be needed for specific outcome events to be studied in the cohort. These rates will allow us to predict when enough events will occur to identify risk factors for endpoints of interest. Fourth, we will pre-test the draft questionnaire in a sample of physicians who returned postcards indicating they would participate in the study. Fifth, the information obtained from the pilot study will be included, in a proposal for a large prospective cohort study of health outcomes in more than 100,000 women physicians to be submitted to NIH in June or October of 1994.
