The Study

UK Biobank is a medical research study that will show how the health of 500,000 people, currently aged 40-69 from all around the UK, is affected by their lifestyle, environment and genes. This age group is being studied because it involves people at risk of developing serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and dementia.

The National Health Service treats the single largest group of people anywhere in the world and keeps detailed records on all of them from birth to death. As a result, follow-up of UK Biobank participants through routine medical records will enable the identification of those who develop a wide range of disabling and life-threatening conditions.

Scientists have known for many years that our risks of developing different diseases is due to the complex interplay of different factors – our lifestyle, environment, genes and luck. Because UK Biobank will involve thousands of people who develop any particular disease, it will be able to show, more reliably than ever before, why some people develop that disease whilst others do not.

Letters will be sent to men and women in the target age group inviting them to attend one of a network of Assessment Centres around the UK. Each participant will be asked to donate a blood and urine sample, have standard measurements taken and complete a confidential lifestyle questionnaire. Over the next 20-30 years UK Biobank will allow approved researchers to use these unique resources to study the progression of chronic illnesses. The overall aim is to help researchers develop new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat many of these common diseases.