News Update!

SELECT participants were asked to stop taking study supplements in the fall of 2008 when a review of the data showed there was no benefit to continue taking vitamin E and/or selenium to prevent prostate cancer. Even though they no longer take study supplements, 31,000 dedicated participants remain in SELECT. The study leadership realizes this group provides a chance to observe changes in men’s health and risk for prostate cancer. It can also provide some very important ancillary study results.

Thus, the study is now preparing for a new stage called centralized follow-up. Between November 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, the staff at over 400 SELECT Study Sites will talk about centralized follow-up with their participants. Since they are not taking Study supplements, SELECT participants will not need to be seen by staff at their Study Sites. So, participants want to continue on SELECT for another 2 to 5 years of follow-up will no longer have to travel to a Study Site twice a year. Instead, they will receive a booklet with health questions by mail once a year. Included with this booklet will be a self-addressed, stamped envelope for returning the forms to the SELECT Coordinating Center.

Participants who agree to continue in SELECT will still receive CHOICE – The Newsletter for SELECT Men. Updates on the study and news about prostate cancer, prevention and other related studies will be in this newsletter. Those who are in the Alzheimer’s study PREADVISE will also be given the opportunity to continue this ancillary study along with SELECT.

The SELECT Coordinating Center

While we may be new to the men on SELECT, they are not new to us. The SELECT Coordinating Center (SCC) has been an important part of SELECT from the beginning. From 2000 to 2009, the SCC was called the SELECT Statistical Center. It worked directly with Study Sites to collect, review and store study data via a secure web site. The SCC staff also provided training and support to the staff at the Study Sites. The SCC is guided by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects. Its staff works closely with the study leadership to manage and analyze the data.

During centralized follow-up, SCC’s staff will prepare the booklets of health questions to be mailed to participants who agree to continue on SELECT. They will enter the data into a secure database when the booklets are returned and respond to participant calls and e-mails.

If you are a participant in SELECT, please continue to contact your local Study Site until you have had your transition visit or last visit with them.

The SCC appreciates the work and dedication of the Study Site staff and will miss them when they move on to other projects as SELECT switches to centralized follow-up.

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