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Approved research

Exploring Selection in the UK Biobank

Principal Investigator: Professor Melinda Mills
Approved Research ID: 33162
Approval date: June 25th 2018

Lay summary

There are two primary aims to this project. First, we will describe the selection process into response for the UKBiobank relative to non-responders and explore the extent to which this may lead to bias in health-related findings, particularly with regards to genetic analyses. This complements but goes beyond recent studies such as Fry et al. (2017). Secondly, using geocoded data, and through linkages with other public available data sources, we explore the social and physical environment of the UKB sample and their associations to variation in health-related outcomes. This project will contribute to a better understanding of health related data and its ability to assess and exposure-disease relationships. It meets the UK Biobank?s core access policy of focusing on health-related material that is also in the public interest. This project will overlay demographic, social and health information from UK Biobank respondents with other data sources including, but not limited to, the UK Census and Understanding Societies data. Using geocoding for addresses, we will: 1) detail similarities and differences across these measures for UKB respondents relative to nationally representative samples; and, 2) explore the socio-environmental characteristics of these recipients. The full cohort would be examined.