| Name of Biobank |
UK Biobank |
| Year Initiated |
2004 |
| Primary objective (one sentence) |
The UK Biobank study was established by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health to study the links between genes, the environment and lifestyle in the cause of complex diseases of middle and old age.
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| Key components (please briefly address the following): |
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| Time frame |
The three-year recruitment period will end in June, 2010. |
| Sample size (current and anticipated) and characteristics (age, gender) |
UK Biobank will consist of 500,000 men and women from the UK general population aged 40 to 69 years. |
| Recruitment area, method of recruitment/follow-up, sample representativeness |
Participants are identified from lists held by government agencies and are invited to attend an assessment centre established within a reasonable distance of their home address (typically up to 20 miles). Assessment centres are set up in open plan, commercially available office space in city centre locations with good travel links. |
| Types of data/specimens collected (questionnaire, physical exam) |
Each participant undergoes a baseline assessment lasting about two hours where they provide information about their lifestyle, family and medical history and diet, complete cognitive tests, undergo a number of physical measures and provide samples of blood, urine and saliva. Biological samples collected in the assessment centres are transported overnight in temperature controlled shipping crates to a central processing laboratory where they are fractionated and aliquots stored in ultra-low temperature conditions in either a fully automated -80pC working archive or in a manual back-up nitrogen vapor archive. UK Biobank recently enhanced its baseline assessment visit by adding a number of additional measures and samples that will provide more information on a substantial subset of the cohort. They are also currently in discussion with funding organisations for ambitious plans to carry out detailed imaging assessments to a large proportion of the main cohort. |
| Data collection, storage, processing systems |
Nearly all data are captured using innovative electronic systems that are cost-efficient, reduce scope for transcription errors, allow direct coding and validation of responses and support monitoring of clinic activities for quality control. |
| Method of consent, reporting of results |
Participants provide consent to access their medical and other health related records which enables an efficient means of longitudinal follow-up at reasonable cost and without the need for repeated contacts with the participant. Nevertheless, small numbers of participants will be re-assessed using mobile clinic facilities to minimise the effects of random error in the data resource. |
| Health outcomes of interest |
The age range of participants allows investigation of the common causes of morbidity and premature mortality, and also allows ascertainment of events at an age where such cause-specific outcomes are generally well recorded, with less co-morbidity (and competing causes of mortality) than outcomes at older ages. |
| Funding Sources |
Wellcome Trust, UK Department of Health, Medical Research Council |
