title: The healthy men study: design and recruitment considerations for environmental epidemiologic studies in male reproductive health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe study design, conduct and response, and participant characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were male partners of women who were enrolled in a community-based prospective cohort study of drinking water disinfection by-products and pregnancy health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred thirty presumed fertile men recruited from 3 study sites in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Men completed a telephone interview about demographics, health history, and exposures and provided a semen sample that was express mailed to the study laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Response and participation rates, participant demographics, and lifestyle exposures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We obtained a high participation rate (84%) among men who were located, but a low overall response rate (25%). Participants were more likely to be white, more highly educated, be married, and have a higher household income than the underlying study cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our multisite study design may be applicable to the study of community environmental factors and reproductive health of men. Our design was efficient in that men from geographically disparate sites could be recruited, a semen sample was collected at home, and a telephone interview was conducted from a central study site. Despite these design features, the low response rates may suggest selection bias that can be addressed partially in the analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA. andy_olshan@unc.edu
authors.forename: Andrew F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Olshan
authors.forename: Sally D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Perreault
authors.forename: Lorrie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Rebecca M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Buus
authors.forename: Lillian F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Strader
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Jeffay
authors.forename: Lyle
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lansdell
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Savitz
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herring
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012107:Research Design; D015983:Selection Bias; D012661:Semen / Q000502:physiology; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis