We follow our participants’ health by linking to their electronic medical records, which includes data on hospital stays, cancer diagnoses and causes of death.
These data enable researchers to know what health conditions participants are experiencing over time and when they were diagnosed. Combined with other data types, researchers around the world have been able to make health discoveries that would not otherwise have been possible.
Healthcare records data at a glance
Primary care data
We receive coded GP data, which contain codes about diagnoses, prescriptions and referrals, but no confidential notes or letters. Learn why access to GP data is so important.
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Current availability- 230,000 participants up to 2016 or 2017 (depending on data supplier)
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Future availability- 500,000 participants
Hospital inpatient data
We receive coded hospital data, which contains information about diagnoses and procedures, for all of our participants.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants (for current numbers see our data browser)
Cancer data
We receive data on all of our participants’ cancer diagnoses from national cancer registries.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants (for current numbers see our data browser)
Death data
If one of our participants dies, we receive information about the date and cause of death from national death registries.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants (for current numbers see our data browser)
Algorithmically-defined health outcomes and first occurrences of health outcomes
For dementia, stroke and some other conditions, we use algorithms that use data from across different medical records (and self-report) to identify whether a participant has a certain health outcome and when it was first diagnosed.
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Current availability
- 500,000 participants (depending on underlying coverage)
Access UK Biobank health records data
Researchers can explore all heath records data on our data browser, Showcase.
Healthcare records research stories
Read a selection of stories about how healthcare is being changed by discoveries made with healthcare records.
DNA from nearly 750,000 people, including UK Biobank participants, reveals genes that make people prone to persistent Epstein-Barr virus infections, which are linked to rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and many other diseases.
Five extra minutes of walking per day could avert up to 10% of early deaths, exercise-tracking data from more than 135,000 people over 40 suggest.
There should be more focus on finding treatments that target the ‘Alzheimer’s gene’, researchers argue.
More awareness of Alexander disease, a progressive and disabling brain condition, could stop misdiagnoses and missed treatment opportunities.
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
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
Participants’ self-reported data on health and lifestyle
Derived data on participants’ environment, such as local air and noise pollution