UK Biobank: Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health
Networks
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Datasets
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Variables
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The objective of UK Biobank is to create the large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants, which will contributes to the advancement of modern medicine, treatment and scientific discoveries that improve human health.
- Start Year
- 2006
- Supplementary Information
- The database is regularly augmented with additional data and is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking vital research into the most common and life-threatening diseases. Additional resources: • Elliott P, Peakman TC; UK Biobank. The UK Biobank sample handling and storage protocol for the collection, processing and archiving of human blood and urine. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2008;37(2):234-44. • Conroy M, Sellors J, Effingham M, et al. The advantages of UK Biobank's open‐access strategy for health research. Journal of Internal Medicine, 2019; 286:389-97.
Visit UK Biobank
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Design
- Study design
- Cohort
- Follow Up
- After baseline recruitment, participants were reconnected for the repeated baseline measures in 2012. Further, participants were re-contacted periodically for enhancement data assessments.
- Supplementary Information
Marker Paper
Sudlow C, Gallacher J, Allen N, et al. UK biobank: an open access resource for identifying the causes of a wide range of complex diseases of middle and old age. PLoS Medicine, 2015;12(3).
PUBMED 25826379
Recruitment
- Recruitment Target
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- Individuals
Number of Participants
- Number of Participants
- 503,316
- Number of Participants with Biological Samples
- 486,019
- Supplementary Information
Access
Availability of data and biosamples
| Possible Access to Data | |
| Possible Access to Biosamples | |
| Other |
Supplementary Information
UK Biobank support possible access to samples albeit for cohort-wide assays.
Timeline
UK Biobank population
The population consisted of individuals from all around the UK between 40 and 69 at the time of recruitment who lived within the vicinity of the assessment centres.
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
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40
- Maximum age
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69
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
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- United Kingdom
- Territory
- Birmingham, Bristol, Bury, Cardiff, Cheadle, Croydon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hounslow, Leeds, Liverpool, London Barts, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield, Stockport, Stoke, Swansea and Wrexham
- Ethnic Origin
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- Health Status
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Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
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- General population
- General Population
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- Selected sample
- Supplementary Information
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Eligible participants (i.e. those aged 40-69 years and who lived within ~25 miles of an assessment centre) were identified through the National Health Service.
Number of Participants
- Number of Participants
- 503,316
- Number of Participants with Biological Samples
- 486,019
- Supplementary Information about selection criteria
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• Over 3,000 participants were included in the pilot phase.
• 500,000 participants were recruited in the baseline
• A repeat assessment of 20,000 participants was carried out in the first assessment.
• Approximately 320,000 participants provided the enhancement data on diet.
• Close to 100,000 participants provided the enhancement data on physical activity.
• 121,000 participants complete the occupational health questionnaire
• About 100,000 participants will provide the imaging data.
Data Collection Events
| # | Name | Description | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
UK Biobank - Pilot phase
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Information on sociodemographics (education, household income), lifestyle (diet, physical activity, drinking and smoking habits, electronic device use), psychosocial factors (mental health, ... | 2006-03 | 2006-06 |
| 1 |
UK Biobank - Baseline assessment
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Information on sociodemographics (birthplace, employment, income, education, ethnicity), lifestyle (24-hour detailed diet recall, physical activity, sleep, drinking and smoking habits, electronic ... | 2007-04 | 2010-10 |
| 2 |
UK Biobank - Diet enhancement data
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Information on the diet was collected by online 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire. | 2011-02 | 2012-04 |
| 3 |
UK Biobank - Baseline assessment repetition
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Information on sociodemographics (birthplace, employment, income, education, ethnicity), lifestyle (24-hour detailed diet recall, physical activity, sleep, drinking and smoking habits, electronic ... | 2012-08 | 2013-06 |
| 4 |
UK Biobank - Physical activity enhancement data
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Information on physical activity was collected using a wrist-worn tri-axial accelerometer. |
2013-06 | 2016-01 |
| 5 |
UK Biobank - Linked health-related data
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Participants’ health is obtained on a regular basis through linkage to death and cancer registries as well as hospital inpatient records. Information on cause-specific mortality, cancer and ... |
2013-03 | |
| 6 |
UK Biobank - Cognitive function enhancement data
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Information was collected from a web questionnaire about cognitive function. Topics of the questionnaire included: mood, fluid intelligence, trail making, symbol digit substitution, pairs ... | 2014-11 | 2014-12 |
| 7 |
UK Biobank - Occupational health enhancement data
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Information was collected on occupational history, respiratory health and medication use for respiratory conditions; and smoking habits using web questionnaire. |
2015-07 | 2015-09 |
| 8 |
UK Biobank - Imaging
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Information on MRI brain, heart and abdomen, ultrasound of carotid arteries and whole body DXA scan of bones and joints, process completion time, durations and process authorisation data is ... | 2014-08 | |
| 9 |
UK Biobank - Mental health enhancement data
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Information on as anxiety, depression, happiness and subjective well-being, mental distress, self-harm, traumatic events, unusual and psychotic experiences behaviours further other risk factors ... |
2016-08 | 2016-12 |
| 10 |
UK Biobank - Digestive health
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Information was collected from a web questionnaire about abdominal discomfort, chest pain, dizziness, coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity, family history of IBS, satisfaction with bowel ... |
2017 | 2017 |
| 11 |
UK Biobank - Physical activity monitor repetition
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Information was collected using a wrist-worn tri-axial accelerometer for a subset of participants. Participants were asked to repeat the exercise up to four times each on a quarterly basis to ... |
2018 | |
| 12 |
UK Biobank - Pain
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Information was collected from a web questionnaire about experience of chronic pain: types, severity and duration, for all participants. |
2019 | 2019 |
| 13 |
UK Biobank - Food preferences
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Information was collected from a web questionnaire about food preferences. |
2019-01 | 2019-08 |
| 14 |
UK Biobank - Covid-19
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Information was collected about COVID-19 antibody self-test results, vaccination dates, hospitalization, and death. Blood samples were collected. Primary care information was collected through ... | 2020-06 | 2020-12 |
| 15 |
UK Biobank - First repeat imaging visit
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Information on MRI brain, heart and abdomen, ultrasound of carotid arteries and whole body DXA scan of bones and joints, process completion time, durations and process authorisation data is ... | 2019-07 |
Classifications
- Socio-demographic and economic characteristics
- Lifestyle and behaviours
- Birth, pregnancy and reproductive health history
- Perception of health, quality of life, development and functional limitations
- Diseases
- Symptoms and signs
- Medication and supplements
- Non-pharmacological interventions
- Health and community care services utilization
- Death
- Physical measures and assessments
- Laboratory measures
- Cognition, personality and psychological measures and assessments
- Life events, life plans, beliefs and values
- Preschool, school and work life
- Social environment and relationships
- Physical environment
- Administrative information
- Cognitive functioning
- Personality
- Psychological distress and emotions
- Other psychological measures and assessments
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Nutrition
- Breastfeeding
- Physical activity
- Sleep
- Sexual behaviours and orientation
- Technological devices
- Misbehaviour and criminality
- Other and unspecified lifestyle information
Socio-demographic and economic characteristics
Age/birthdate
Sex/gender
Twin
Family and household structure
Education
Residence
Birthplace
Citizenship and immigrant status
Ethnicity, race and religion
Labour force and retirement
Income, possessions, and benefits
Other socio-demographic and economic characteristics
Lifestyle and behaviours
Tobacco
Alcohol
Drugs
Nutrition
Breastfeeding
Physical activity
Transportation
Sleep
Sexual behaviours and orientation
Leisure activities
Technological devices
Birth, pregnancy and reproductive health history
Puberty, menstruation, menopause and andropause
Contraception
Pregnancy, delivery and birth
Perception of health, quality of life, development and functional limitations
Perception of health
Quality of life
Functional limitations
Use of assistive devices
Diseases
Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)
Neoplasms (C00-D48)
Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (D50-D89)
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90)
Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-F99)
Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99)
Diseases of the eye and adnexa (H00-H59)
Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H60-H95)
Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99)
Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)
Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93)
Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99)
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99)
Diseases of the genitourinary system (N00-N99)
Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O9A)
Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P00-P96)
Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)
Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T98)
External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01-Y98)
Diseases without precise specification or falling into multiple categories
Symptoms and signs
Symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems (R00-R09)
Symptoms and signs involving the digestive system and abdomen (R10-R19)
Symptoms and signs involving the skin and subcutaneous tissue (R20-R23)
Symptoms and signs involving nervous and musculoskeletal systems (R25-R29)
Symptoms and signs involving the urinary system (R30-R39)
Symptoms and signs involving cognition, perception, emotional state and behaviour (R40-R46)
General symptoms and signs (R50-R69)
Symptoms related to multiple categories
Medication and supplements
Medication and supplement intake
Other and unspecified pharmacological interventions
Non-pharmacological interventions
Surgical interventions
Radiological interventions
Cognitive, psychological and sensory interventions
Laboratory diagnosis interventions
Other and unspecified non-pharmacological interventions
Health and community care services utilization
Visits to health professionals
Hospitalizations
Other health and community care
Death
Vital status
Cause of death
Other end of life or death-related information
Physical measures and assessments
Physical characteristics
Anthropometry
Circulation and respiration
Muscles, skeleton and mobility
Sensory and pain
Brain and nerves
Skin and subcutaneous tissue
Other physical measures and assessments
Laboratory measures
Hematology
Biochemistry
Virology
Immunology
Genomics
Cognition, personality and psychological measures and assessments
Cognitive functioning
Personality
Psychological distress and emotions
Life events, life plans, beliefs and values
Life events
Beliefs and values
Preschool, school and work life
Work life
Social environment and relationships
Social participation
Social support
Other social environment characteristics
Physical environment
Housing characteristics
Built environment/neighbourhood characteristics
Workplace characteristics
Radiation exposure
Chemical exposure
Other physical environment characteristics
Administrative information
Identifiers
Date and time-related information
Questionnaire and interview-related information
Physical and cognitive measure and biosample-related information
Data and sample collection center-related information
Other administrative information
Cognitive functioning
COGNITO Matrices
Dynamic Visual Retention Test
Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test
Simple Reaction Time Task
Symbol Digit Modalities Test
Trail Making Test
Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Tower Test
Verbal Fluency
Verbal Numerical Reasoning Test
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Digit Span)
Wechsler Memory Scale (Verbal Paired Associates)
Personality
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
Psychological distress and emotions
Patient Health Questionnaire
Tobacco
Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence