title: Looking back in time: conducting a cohort study of the long-term effects of treatment of adolescent tall girls with synthetic hormones.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Public health research is an endeavour that often involves multiple relationships, far-reaching collaborations, divergent expectations and various outcomes. Using the Tall Girls Study as a case study, this paper will present and discuss a number of methodological, ethical and legal challenges that have implications for other public health research.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Tall Girls Study was the first study to examine the long-term health and psychosocial effects of oestrogen treatment for tall stature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In undertaking this study the research team overcame many hurdles: in maintaining collaboration with treating clinicians and with the women they had treated as girls - groups with opposing points of view and different expectations; using private practice medical records to trace women who had been patients up to forty years earlier; and exploring potential legal issues arising from the collection of data related to treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While faced with complex challenges, the Tall Girls Study demonstrated that forward planning, ongoing dialogue between all stakeholders, transparency of processes, and the strict adherence to group-developed protocols were keys to maintaining rigour while undertaking pragmatic research.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Public health research often occurs within political and social contexts that need to be considered in the planning and conduct of studies. The quality and acceptability of research findings is enhanced when stakeholders are engaged in all aspects of the research process.
authors.affiliation: Mother and Child Health Research, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin St, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. f.bruinsma@latrobe.edu.edu
authors.forename: Fiona J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Bruinsma
authors.forename: Jo-Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rayner
authors.forename: Alison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Venn
authors.forename: Priscilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pyett
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Werther
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D001827:Body Height; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D004967:Estrogens / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008499:Medical Records; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012108:Research Personnel; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens