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UK Biobank
Population Size
500,000
People
Years
2006
Associated BioSamples
Serum
Plasma
...see more
Geographic coverage
United Kingdom
Lead time
1-2 months
Summary
Documentation
UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants. The database, which is regularly augmented with additional data, is globally accessible to approved researchers and scientists undertaking vital research into the most common and life-threatening diseases. UK Biobank’s research resource is a major contributor to the advancement of modern medicine and treatment and has enabled several scientific discoveries that improve human health.
Since 2006, UK Biobank has collected an unprecedented amount of biological and medical data on half a million people, aged between 40 and 69 years old and living in the UK, as part of a large-scale prospective study. With their consent they regularly provide blood, urine and saliva samples, as well as detailed information about their lifestyle which is then linked to their health-related records to provide a deeper understanding of how individuals experience diseases. Genotyping, whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing is available for the whole cohort. Blood and urine biomarkers, telomere data, metabolomic and proteomic data and infectious disease markers have been assayed from the samples provided.
Since 2014 we have been undertaking the largest imaging study to date. We aim to undertake brain, cardiac and neck to knee MRI, whole body DXA and carotid ultrasound of 100,000 participants. We additionally have retinal images for 100,000 participants from baseline assessment, and accelerometer data for 100,000 participants collected 2013-2014.
Questionnaires that aim to capture data that is not readily captured by health data linkages are regularly sent to our participants.
The data – the largest and richest dataset of its kind – is de-identified and made widely accessible by UK Biobank to registered researchers around the world who use it to make new scientific discoveries about common and life-threatening diseases – such as cancer, heart disease and stroke – in order to improve public health.
Keywords
Observations
Observed Node | Disambiguating Description | Measured Value | Measured Property | Observation Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Persons | Each participant has a large number (<5000) of data points associated with them. Recruitment started in 2006, but data collection is ongoing, and health data predates recruitment date. Summary statistics of all data can be found on our data showcase. | 500000 | Count | 13 Mar 2006 |
Provenance
Whilst selection biases are seen in UK Biobank
, there is still substantial heterogeneity within the cohort. Whilst incidence and prevalence calculations are not generalisable to the UK population, exposure-outcome comparisons should be due to the heterogeneity in the cohort. However, it is important that researchers consider the potential biases of a data set that might limit generalisability of their results (as is the case for all observational data).Structural Metadata
Details
08/10/2024
Coverage
13/03/2006
Accessibility
Data Access Request
Applications to access data are made through our bespoke access management system (https://bbams.ndph.ox.ac.uk/ams/).
Data access is either via data download (phenotype and genotype data) or via our Research Analysis Platform (phenotype, imaging, genotype, WES, WGS, omics). Our RAP is enabled by DNANexus and hosted by Amazon Web Services (https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/enable-your-research/research-analysis-platform).
Access costs depend on what data access is required.