UK Biobank: opportunities for cardiovascular research
Thomas J. Littlejohns, Cathie L. M. Sudlow, Naomi E. Allen, Rory Collins. European Heart Journal, 2017-04-24
Topic: Genetics and APOE
The need for large sample sizes has led to collaborative efforts, such as the Prospective Studies Collaboration (an individual participant meta-analysis of data from 61 studies and more than a million participants11) that has demonstrated conclusively that a continuous increase in blood pressure corresponds with an increased risk of vascular death across all age groups (see Figure 1 that illustrates the importance of a large sample size (about 500 000 participants) for detecting this association).12 Sample size is also of particular importance in the current era of genome-wide association studies, where many investigations are aiming to detect either small effects from common variants or large effects from rare variants.13 Absolute risk of ischaemic heart disease mortality by usual systolic blood pressure and age at risk in 5000, 50 000, and 500 000 participants. In order to address this, UK Biobank was established as a prospective cohort study that combines a large sample size with a very wide range of data on exposures and outcomes in order to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of middle and old age, including cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke.15–17 Characteristics of major population-based prospective cohort studies with biological samples for 100 000 or more participants Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records cIMT, carotid intima-media thickness test; ECG, electrocardiogram; GWAS, genome-wide association study; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; NHS, National Health Service; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism. Characteristics of major population-based prospective cohort studies with biological samples for 100 000 or more participants Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records cIMT, carotid intima-media thickness test; ECG, electrocardiogram; GWAS, genome-wide association study; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; NHS, National Health Service; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism. For example, whilst the number of current smokers is low in UK Biobank compared with the general population, there are sufficiently large numbers of smokers to detect the association with various diseases. The genotyping array includes thousands of markers that are involved in cardio
Key findings
- The need for large sample sizes has led to collaborative efforts, such as the Prospective Studies Collaboration (an individual participant meta-analysis of data from 61 studies and more than a million participants11) that has demonstrated conclusively that a continuous increase in blood pressure corresponds with an increased risk of vascular death across all age groups (see Figure 1 that illustrates the importance of a large sample size (about 500 000 participants) for detecting this association).12 Sample size is also of particular importance in the current era of genome-wide association studies, where many investigations are aiming to detect either small effects from common variants or large effects from rare variants.13 Absolute risk of ischaemic heart disease mortality by usual systolic blood pressure and age at risk in 5000, 50 000, and 500 000 participants.
- In order to address this, UK Biobank was established as a prospective cohort study that combines a large sample size with a very wide range of data on exposures and outcomes in order to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of middle and old age, including cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke.15–17 Characteristics of major population-based prospective cohort studies with biological samples for 100 000 or more participants Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records cIMT, carotid intima-media thickness test; ECG, electrocardiogram; GWAS, genome-wide association study; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; NHS, National Health Service; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism.
- Characteristics of major population-based prospective cohort studies with biological samples for 100 000 or more participants Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records Hospitalizations Clinic visits Laboratory testing results Pharmacy Dispensing Records cIMT, carotid intima-media thickness test; ECG, electrocardiogram; GWAS, genome-wide association study; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; NHS, National Health Service; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism.
- For example, whilst the number of current smokers is low in UK Biobank compared with the general population, there are sufficiently large numbers of smokers to detect the association with various diseases.
- The genotyping array includes thousands of markers that are involved in cardiometabolic processes and blood pressure regulation, rare variants associated with cardiac disease and those involved in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs (Figure 2).18 This data will enable researchers to explore the genetic determinants of cardiovascular disease, conduct Mendelian randomization experiments to identify potentially causal effects and investigate gene-environment interactions.
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Study details
- Study designmeta-analysis
- Participants5,200
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 79/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 46 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 79 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (European Heart Journal) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A meta-analysis pooling many studies |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2017 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 5,200 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | A review of other studies — randomisation is not credited here |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 28531320) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 46 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 46 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 79 out of 100. |
| Total | 79 / 100 | — |
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APA 7th
Littlejohns, T. J., Sudlow, C. L. M., Allen, N. E., & Collins, R. (2017). UK Biobank: opportunities for cardiovascular research. European Heart Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehx254
Vancouver
Littlejohns TJ, Sudlow CLM, Allen NE, Collins R. UK Biobank: opportunities for cardiovascular research. European Heart Journal. 2017. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehx254. PMID: 28531320.
BibTeX
@article{littlejohns2017-28531320,
author = {Littlejohns, Thomas J. and Sudlow, Cathie L. M. and Allen, Naomi E. and Collins, Rory},
title = {{UK Biobank: opportunities for cardiovascular research}},
journal = {European Heart Journal},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1093/eurheartj/ehx254},
pmid = {28531320},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehx254}
}
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