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Review
. 2020 May 26;11(1):2624.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15948-9.

The UK Biobank imaging enhancement of 100,000 participants: rationale, data collection, management and future directions

Thomas J Littlejohns  1 , Jo Holliday  2 , Lorna M Gibson  3   4 , Steve Garratt  5 , Niels Oesingmann  5 , Fidel Alfaro-Almagro  6 , Jimmy D Bell  7 , Chris Boultwood  5 , Rory Collins  2 , Megan C Conroy  2 , Nicola Crabtree  8 , Nicola Doherty  5 , Alejandro F Frangi  9   10 , Nicholas C Harvey  11 , Paul Leeson  12 , Karla L Miller  6 , Stefan Neubauer  12 , Steffen E Petersen  13 , Jonathan Sellors  2   5 , Simon Sheard  5 , Stephen M Smith  6 , Cathie L M Sudlow  3 , Paul M Matthews #  14 , Naomi E Allen #  2
Affiliations
Review

The UK Biobank imaging enhancement of 100,000 participants: rationale, data collection, management and future directions

Thomas J Littlejohns et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

UK Biobank is a population-based cohort of half a million participants aged 40-69 years recruited between 2006 and 2010. In 2014, UK Biobank started the world's largest multi-modal imaging study, with the aim of re-inviting 100,000 participants to undergo brain, cardiac and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and carotid ultrasound. The combination of large-scale multi-modal imaging with extensive phenotypic and genetic data offers an unprecedented resource for scientists to conduct health-related research. This article provides an in-depth overview of the imaging enhancement, including the data collected, how it is managed and processed, and future directions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Nicholas C. Harvey acknowledges consultancy/grant support/honoraria from Alliance for Better Bone Health, AMGEN, UCB, Radius Health, MSD, Eli Lilly, Servier, Shire, Consilient Healthcare and Internis Pharma, outside the submitted work. Paul Leeson acknowledges grant support from Lantheus Medical Imaging and Fukuda, consultancy fees from Intelligent Ultrasound and is a non-executive director of Ultromics. Steffen E. Petersen acknowledges consultancy fees from Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Paul Matthews acknowledges consultancy fees from Roche, Adelphi Communications, Celgene and Biogen. He has received honoraria or speakers’ honoraria from Novartis, Biogen and Roche and has received research or educational funds from Biogen, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Nodthera. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Board of Ipsen Pharmaceuticals. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Flow chart of participation in the UK Biobank multi-modal imaging study.
Note that as the invitation process is ongoing, this flow chart is only accurate as of early 2020. For example, some participants classified as ‘no response’ might attend the imaging enhancement in future.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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