Be part of the world’s largest whole-body scanning project to transform the way we diagnose, prevent and treat our most chronic diseases 

UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource that contains genetic, lifestyle and health information from half a million UK participants, of which you are one. Volunteers who were aged between 40 and 69 years when recruited between 2006 and 2010 provided detailed information about lifestyle, as well as having physical measures taken and blood, urine and saliva samples collected and stored for future analysis.

UK Biobank’s database, which now also includes genetic data for all participants and the heart, body, brain, neck artery and bone scans from over 50,000 participants, is globally accessible to approved researchers who are undertaking health-related research that is in the public interest.

While taking part in UK Biobank is not intended to help you directly, it should give future generations a much better chance of living their lives free of diseases that disable and kill. UK Biobank’s research resource is a major contributor to the advancement of modern medicine and treatment, enabling better understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses – including cancer, heart diseases, stroke and now COVID-19.

UK Biobank is generously supported by its founding funders the Medical Research Council and Wellcome, as well as the Department of Health and Social Care, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

The organisation has over 200 dedicated members of staff, based in multiple locations across the UK.

All of these scans are safe and painless. The scanners are similar to those used routinely in the NHS. However, since MRI scans involve the use of a magnet, you may not be able to take part if you have an electrical implant (for example, a pacemaker) in your body, metal in certain parts of your body, or if you have had an accident where metal may have entered your body.

If you have had recent surgery, you will not be able to take part for at least six weeks after your operation. You will also not be able to take part if you have medical problems that make it difficult to carry out the scans (for example, severe hearing or breathing problems, or tremors).

If you would like to take part but think you might not be eligible to do so, we would still like you to telephone us so that we can check this for you.

Please call 0800 0 276 276 Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00.

It is important to understand that the visit is not a clinical appointment or a health check.

We will give you information at the end of the visit about a few of the measurements we take during the assessment (blood pressure, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, percent body fat and lung function, if measured). However, we will not provide any other results or images from the scans. This is in accordance with the consent you provided when you agreed to take part in UK Biobank.
Scans are being undertaken for research purposes only.

The scans we do are not intended to diagnose disease. They are not designed to find any particular abnormalities and will not be routinely analysed by doctors or other specialists. The radiographers who do the scans will be looking at the images to make sure of their quality, rather than looking for evidence of any health problems.

However, abnormalities can show up during the scanning process on scans taken for research purposes. Most of these are no cause for concern but if the radiographer does happen to notice a potentially serious abnormality while taking the scan, they will refer the scans after your visit to a specialist doctor (radiologist) for review.

If the radiologist agrees that the abnormality is potentially serious (regardless of whether or not it might be treatable), we will write to
you and your GP, usually within a few weeks of your visit. Please note that we are not able to provide you or your GP with copies of scans.

We would consider something to be potentially serious if your scans suggested the possibility of a condition which, if confirmed, could have a major effect on how your body functions or on your quality of life, or could be life-threatening.

For example, we would tell you and your GP if we saw an abnormality on one of your scans that looked as though it could be a malignant tumour or another similarly serious condition, such as a large swelling of the aorta (the main artery of the body).

On the other hand, we would not tell you if we saw typical appearances of gallstones, a simple cyst or scarring (e.g. on the lung) as these abnormalities are common in healthy people and are not considered serious.

We would also not tell you about something that is clearly related to a health condition that you have already told us about.

Finally, we would not tell you about a potentially serious abnormality if it was identified at a later date by researchers analysing the scans. From our experience so far, about two out of every hundred people taking part in this visit (2%) will have an abnormality that a radiologist agrees is potentially serious and which we will write to you and your GP about. About one in three of these people will turn out to have something serious that they may not have been aware of before, while two out of every three of these people will turn out to have something non-serious. This happens because something that looks suspicious on one of our research scans can turn out to be something like a benign cyst, an artefact (or technical glitch) of the scanning process, or something that you or your GP already know about (but we do not).

It is important to understand that we will not notice all potentially serious abnormalities. For this reason, if you do not receive any feedback from us about a potentially serious abnormality, you should not regard this as reassurance about your health. It should not stop you from seeing your doctor about any health concerns that you might have.

Please let us know if you would like to take part by phoning us free of charge on:
0800 0 276 276 (Mon - Fri 09.00-17.00). 

During this call, you will be able to ask us any questions that you might have. We will also ask you some questions about your medical history to check your suitability for the scans.
If you are eligible to take part, we will arrange an appointment for you.

Appointments are generally available from 08.00 to 15.20, Monday to Sunday, and last for four to five hours.

We will send you a letter confirming your appointment and give you directions to the assessment centre. If you have provided us with an email address and mobile phone number, we will also send you an email or text reminder a couple of days before your visit.

You can claim the cost of travel to the assessment centre by public or private transport, using the claim form that we will provide you with.

Train and other public transport (i.e. bus, tram, Metro or underground).
For train travel, please keep in mind the following:
• Please buy standard tickets (i.e. not first-class).
• Booking in advance usually means that you get the best value tickets. Where possible, please avoid booking open return tickets
as these tend to be the most expensive.
• Buying split tickets may reduce the overall price of your fare. See www.splitticketing.com to find out more.

Private transport (car, motorcycle or bicycle)
We will reimburse you for mileage to and from the assessment centre.

Current mileage allowances can be found in our participant travel expense claim policy at www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/travel-expenses-policy and we will advise you about this when you telephone us to enrol in the study.

Car parking
There is free parking at the centre. If you park elsewhere, you can claim car parking costs (but not fines).

Tolls and tunnel fees
Tolls and tunnel fees may be claimed.
If you need someone to help you during the journey, you can also claim travel expenses for a companion. Please be aware that space
in the Reception area of our Assessment Centres is limited and it may not be possible for your companion to wait whilst you complete your visit. We will advise you about this when you telephone us to enrol in the study.

Please keep your travel receipts and attach them to your claim form. We will provide you with one at the end of your visit.