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

Thomas J Littlejohns; Jo Holliday; Lorna M Gibson; Steve Garratt; Niels Oesingmann; Fidel Alfaro-Almagro; Jimmy D Bell; Chris Boultwood; Rory Collins; Megan C Conroy; Nicola Crabtree; Nicola Doherty; Alejandro F Frangi; Nicholas C Harvey; Paul Leeson; Karla L Miller; Stefan Neubauer; Steffen E Petersen; Jonathan Sellors; Simon Sheard; Stephen M Smith; Cathie L M Sudlow; Paul M Matthews; Naomi E Allen

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15948-9

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

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

Authors

Thomas J Littlejohns¹, Jo Holliday², Lorna M Gibson^{3

4}, Steve Garratt⁵, Niels Oesingmann⁵, Fidel Alfaro-Almagro⁶, Jimmy D Bell⁷, Chris Boultwood⁵, Rory Collins², Megan C Conroy², Nicola Crabtree⁸, Nicola Doherty⁵, Alejandro F Frangi^{9

10}, Nicholas C Harvey¹¹, Paul Leeson¹², Karla L Miller⁶, Stefan Neubauer¹², Steffen E Petersen¹³, Jonathan Sellors^{2

5}, Simon Sheard⁵, Stephen M Smith⁶, Cathie L M Sudlow³, Paul M Matthews^#¹⁴, Naomi E Allen^#²

Affiliations

¹ Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. thomas.littlejohns@ndph.ox.ac.uk.
² Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁴ Department of Clinical Radiology, New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁵ UK Biobank Coordinating Centre, Stockport, UK.
⁶ Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁷ Research Centre for Optimal Health, University of Westminster, London, UK.
⁸ Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
⁹ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁰ CISTIB Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine, Schools of Computing and Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
¹¹ MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹² Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹³ William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London and UK Dementia Research Institute, London, UK.

^# Contributed equally.

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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Biological Specimen Banks* / organization & administration
Female
Humans
Image Enhancement* / methods
Image Enhancement* / standards
Incidental Findings
Information Management*
Male
Middle Aged
Multimodal Imaging
United Kingdom

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding