WIREDGOV

Department of Health helps pioneering health project recruit volunteers

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH News Release (2007/0261) issued by The Government News Network on 11 September 2007

NHS patients throughout England are being invited to take part in a multi-million pound visionary medical project supported by the Department of Health, which will help find out much more about curing many life threatening and debilitating diseases.

UK Biobank is one of the biggest and most detailed public health research initiatives of our time. It will provide a valuable resource for research into a wide range of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, mental illness, Parkinson's disease, joint and dental disease and many other life threatening and debilitating conditions.

UK Biobank is recruiting people aged 40-69. With their permission, it will track their health over the course of the next 30 years or more.

The project aims to recruit 500,000 people across Britain over the next few years. A successful pilot study to check the feasibility of this huge undertaking took place in south Manchester last year. By covering so many people, the UK Biobank resource will help untangle the complex interplay of nature (e.g. genes) and nurture (e.g. lifestyle) in the development of many different diseases. Its goal is not to focus on genes alone, which may be better done through other sorts of study.

People who agree to take part in UK BIobank will attend a 90 minute assessment at special centres near where they live. They will be asked to allow UK Biobank to follow them through routine health records over many years. Participants will answer questions about their current health and lifestyle and will have a number of measurements taken, such as blood pressure, weight, lung function and bone density. They will also be asked to give small samples of blood and urine. Though not a health check, participants will leave with a list of personal health-related measurements and some indication of how they compare to standard values.

The project is led by Rory Collins, British Heart Foundation Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Oxford University. Professor Sally Davies, Director General of Research and Development at the Department of Health joined with him in sending the invitation letters.

Professor Davies said:

"An important part of the Department of Health's work is to stand behind research aimed at tackling important health problems and improving NHS care. Because of its potential for future generations, the government is glad to join with the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, and others in supporting UK Biobank. Though it may not directly benefit those who take part, UK Biobank will help us understand how our children and our children's children can live longer, healthier lives. Helping others will, I hope, be a powerful motivation for many people to take part.

"UK Biobank is not just for the fit and healthy. We shall get the most from it if it covers the whole population. So if people who are not in good health receive an invitation, I hope they too will think about what they could do for others by joining in this remarkable health project. I am glad to join Professor Collins in signing the letter inviting patients over 40 to consider taking part. Of course, it is a completely free choice."

Professor Collins said:

"UK Biobank is a project of which the whole of Britain can truly be proud. We are talking to lots of British scientists about the ways this resource can help their research and, internationally, advising others who want to set up similar projects in their own countries.

"Health research has taken enormous strides in the past decade and we know a lot about how our bodies work, but we need to find out more. In setting up UK Biobank for researchers in the future - those who many only be in primary or junior school now, or not even born - we are establishing the blood-based resource to do just that and making a significant contribution to improving the health of future generations."

Researchers, including some of the most eminent scientists from around the world, believe that UK Biobank will be an extraordinarily important resource for scientists for many years to come. It will help doctors and other medical researchers to develop a better understanding of the causes of many common diseases and to improve their prevention and treatment.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Taking part in UK Biobank is entirely voluntary. Participants can withdraw at any time if they wish. Recruitment is by invitation, but most people aged 40-69 who live within a ten mile radius of each assessment centre can expect to receive an invitation to join.

2. Letters inviting people to take part were first sent to people in Manchester and Oxford in March. Invitation letters will arrive with Cardiff residents on Thursday, and a press release will be issued in Wales to coincide with this. Many thousands more will arrive across the country over the course of the next few months, as people in other areas get the chance to take part. The opportunity to take part will be available to people of different areas of the country as assessment centres are rolled out over the next few years across England, Wales and Scotland.

3. People who receive letters asking them to participate in UK Biobank will be offered an appointment time and date. If the time is inconvenient they can easily change it by calling 0800 0 276 276, Monday to Saturday, 8am-7pm. Participants will be able to confirm their appointment and find out more by visiting the UK Biobank website: http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk

4. At the assessment centres, UK Biobank will give a full explanation before asking people to confirm their consent. If they agree to join in they will give baseline information about their health and wellbeing. Along with blood and urine samples, this will provide important data for scientists to follow up over the coming decades when they are trying to work out what causes some people and not others to develop particular diseases.

5. UK Biobank is a charitable company funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive and the Northwest Regional Development Agency. It is hosted by the University of Manchester, has the support of the National Health Service (NHS) and is a collaborative effort between 22 UK universities.

6. UK Biobank has secured approval from a number of ethics and regulatory groups in relation to its research remit, recruitment proves and the storage of blood and urine samples and access to participants' medical records over many years.

7. The Department of Health is helping UK Biobank to invite the right people by using NHS records to generate personalised invitations. An expert unit is processing the contact details in confidence, just in order to identify people in the right age group and write to them offering an appointment. The expert unit will keep the contact details long enough to make sure letters do not go to people who have refused to take part, have already been invited, or have recently died. This invitation process does not involve access to confidential medical records. No medical records will pass to the UK Biobank without the individuals' consent.

[ENDS]