Yes.

Any information given to us will be treated in the strictest confidence. Results are only ever presented as statistics, not in a form which can reveal your identity. This will only be known to the National Centre and UCL research team. No one else will ever know you have taken part unless you tell them.

We may ask your permission for your name, address and date of birth, but no other information, to be passed to the National Health Service Central Register, Cancer Registry and Hospital Episode Statistics register. This would help us if we wanted to follow you up your health status in future. It is, of course, optional and your information will only be passed on with your agreement.

We may also ask for your permission to send your blood pressure results to your GP. Your GP can interpret the results in the light of your medical history.

If your GP considers the reults to be satisfactory, then nothing needs to be done. If your results showed, for example, that your blood pressure was a little higher than is usual for someone of your sex and age, then your GP might want to measure it again. It would be for you and your GP to decide what is the best action to take, if any.

We will obtain your written permission before sending any results to your GP.

Might there be implications for insurance cover?

If you agree to your results being sent to your GP, he or she may use them in medical reports about you. This may occur if you apply for a new life assurance policy, or for a new job. Insurance companies may ask those who apply for new policies if they have had any medical tests. If so, the insurance company may ask if they can obtain a medical report from the GP. Because of the access to Medical Reports Act 1988 an insurance company cannot ask your GP for a medical report on you without your permission. Having given your permission, you then have the right to see the report before your GP sends it to the insurance company and you can ask for the report to be amended if you consider it to be incorrect or misleading. You can choose not to know the results of any tests and not to let your GP know.

Is the study compulsory? No. In all our studies we rely on voluntary co-operation. The success of the study depends on the goodwill and co-operation of those asked to take part. The more people who do take part, the more useful the results will be. Our interviewers feed back to us that people feel very positive about taking part in the survey. We very much hope that you will enjoy the experience. However, you are free to withdraw from the study

at any time. Please note that we will not be able to remove individual information after the study results have been published.