History of the Study
The Breakthrough Generations Study was first conceived and designed by Professors Swerdlow and Ashworth and their teams in 2002. Following extensive discussions between The Institute of Cancer Research and Breakthrough Breast Cancer it was agreed a large cohort study was essential to investigate lifestyle, hormonal and genetic risk factors in breast cancer.
A pilot study to test the methods and recruit the first women into the study was conducted in mid-2003. This was successful and as a consequence Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Institute of Cancer Research agreed to a full scale study taking place.
The Study was publicly launched on the 2nd September, 2004 and received extensive television and newspaper coverage. The response was rapid and exceeded expectations with almost 15,000 women registering an interest to join the study via the website or telephone in the first 24 hours. Enquiries to join the study have kept arriving ever since.
We recruited the 50,000th participant in April 2006. There are now over 94,000 women who are members of the study, and recruitment is continuing.
A pilot study to test the methods and recruit the first women into the study was conducted in mid-2003. This was successful and as a consequence Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Institute of Cancer Research agreed to a full scale study taking place.
The Study was publicly launched on the 2nd September, 2004 and received extensive television and newspaper coverage. The response was rapid and exceeded expectations with almost 15,000 women registering an interest to join the study via the website or telephone in the first 24 hours. Enquiries to join the study have kept arriving ever since.
We recruited the 50,000th participant in April 2006. There are now over 94,000 women who are members of the study, and recruitment is continuing.
