When participants first visited one of our centres between 2006 and 2010, they answered questions on a touchscreen and spoke to a study nurse.
This information helps researchers to better understand how participants’ personal histories and life circumstances contribute to health conditions.
Sociodemographic data
Participants’ reports of their ethnicity, education, employment and household information.
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Current availability- 500,000 participants
- Repeat measures were taken for 20,000 participants who attended a second baseline assessment, as well as for 100,000 participants who attended an imaging assessment
Health and medical history
Participants’ reports of their medical conditions, medications, operations, cancer screening, pain, oral health, eyesight, hearing and general health.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants
- Repeat measures were taken for 20,000 participants who attended a second baseline assessment, as well as for 100,000 participants who attended an imaging assessment
Lifestyle
Participants’ reports of their smoking habits and alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet, sleep, electronic device use, sun exposure and sexual factors.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants
- Repeat measures were taken for 20,000 participants who attended a second baseline assessment, as well as for 100,000 participants who attended an imaging assessment
Early life and family history
Participants’ reports of early-life factors, such as birthplace and birth weight, as well as participants’ family structure and their closest relatives’ illnesses.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants
- Repeat measures were taken for 20,000 participants who attended a second baseline assessment, as well as for 100,000 participants who attended an imaging assessment
Psychosocial factors
Participants’ reports of their social support, history of bipolar/major depression, anxiety, nerves, psychological traits and mood.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants
- Repeat measures were taken for 20,000 participants who attended a second baseline assessment, as well as for 100,000 participants who attended an imaging assessment
Access UK Biobank demographic and lifestyle data
Researchers can explore all demographic and lifestyle data on our data browser, Showcase.
Demographic, lifestyle and self-reported health data research stories
Read a selection of stories about how healthcare is being changed by discoveries made with demographic, lifestyle and self-reported data.
One in four heart-failure cases in women might be preventable, health information from more than 230,000 female UK Biobank participants has revealed.
Data from more than 2 million people, including UK Biobank participants, casts doubt on the belief that a drink a day is good for brain health.
UK Biobank participants’ activity data suggest that our ‘one size fits all’ exercise guidelines need an overhaul.
A condition that makes blood sugar appear falsely low can cause years‑long delays in type 2 diabetes diagnoses, UK Biobank data has revealed.
Explore our other data categories
Magnetic resonance images, bone-density scans, carotid artery ultrasound and more
Proteins, metabolites, infectious disease markers and other biomarkers
Genotyping, exome and whole-genome information
Linked electronic medical records, including hospital stays, cancer diagnoses and causes of death
Participants’ information on health and lifestyle collected via online or touchscreen questionnaires
Baseline data from physical exams, vision and hearing tests, activity monitor and more
Derived data on participants’ environment, such as local air and noise pollution