ECG and Diagnoses Data for UK BioBank patients
Hi there! I'm currently doing some research on the resting ECGs and health outcomes data available from the UK Biobank. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate it if you could give me some guidance or any resources.
1. Are the resting ECG files that are available on DNA nexus Bulk, all from the UKBB Imaging Study that started in 2015? And if so, were these resting ECGs part of a baseline assessment for the patients involved, or for those with clinical indications for an ECG?
2. As I was browsing through the showcase, I saw that under Health-related outcomes, you can find Diagnoses - ICD10 (Field ID 41270) and Date of first in-patient diagnosis (Field ID 41280). I would like to know whether this list of diagnoses are only ones that were detected after the patient's first baseline assessment or also include the patient's pre-existing conditions before their baseline assessment.
3. During the baseline assessment and follow ups, if the patient had any abnormal results (such as an elevated HbA1c level or elevated blood pressure) but had no pre-existing diagnosis (eg. diabetes or hypertension), were they diagnosed in that UK Biobank visit itself or were they referred to a GP or hospital for further testing and later diagnosis?
I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you in advance!
Comments
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1.The Resting ECGs that are in Field 20205 all come from participants attending Imaging visits, either initial imaging, i2, or repeat imaging, i3. This can be seen in Showcase field 20205 https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/showcase/field.cgi?id=20205 , tab “2 Instances”. UK Biobank does not hold any ECG data within the records provided by the NHS Hospitals or the other linked organisations (Cancer registry, death registry, Primary Care providers).
All participants who attend an imaging visit are expected to have the same tests and assessments. There is no distinction for previous health records, which are unknown to the imaging clinic staff. There may be adjustments to a few tests if a participant says they have a health condition that makes them unable or unsafe to do a test. For example, people with an ongoing eye infection would not have an OCT scan, and people with a weak heart would do a modified fitness assessment. I don't think this would be relevant for the Resting ECGs. If it is relevant, it will be mentioned in the Resources for the field, see the Resources tab, particularly Resource 510 https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/showcase/refer.cgi?id=510 . Although all participants are eligible to be sent an invitation to take part in the Imaging study, there is a post-invitation screening process which would exclude people with certain conditions. For example, participants need to be able to walk unaided for short distances, and not to have a pacemaker.
2. Data in Fields 41270 and 41280 are summaries of data in the linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Inpatient Records. UKB receives HES data on an ongoing basis. It includes some historical records. If you look in Showcase for Field 41280, https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/showcase/field.cgi?id=41280, the graph shows that there are some records going back as far as 1992 (way before the UKB assessment visits started in 2006), though there was probably incomplete coverage at that time. For more details see the Description and Resources in Category 2000 https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/showcase/label.cgi?id=2000 .
3. Nobody was diagnosed at a UKB assessment visit. Some participants with abnormal results were advised to follow it up with their GP. For more information, see the Participant website article on Incidental Findings, https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/explore-your-participation/contribute-further/imaging-study/incidental-findings There are some published articles about the issue which you can find with Google.
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