To meet this aspiration, achieving greater understanding of the interactions between non-communicable diseases in older populations, the identification of RO4929097 order novel risk factors and the elucidation of potential early biomarkers of later disease will be essential. To date, there has been no real opportunity to examine prospectively, in a single adequately sized and phenotyped cohort, a wide range of outcomes and the potential interplay between

them. With access now available to all bona fide researchers anywhere in the world, UK Biobank represents just such an opportunity for the osteoporosis and musculoskeletal research community. UK Biobank is a large prospective cohort established by the C188-9 cost UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust as an international resource for the investigation of risk factors for major diseases and morbidities of middle and older age. Five Belinostat hundred thousand men and women, aged 40–69 years, were recruited nationwide between 2006 and 2010. The baseline assessment was extensive, with detailed information gathered on prevalent disease, diet, lifestyle, socioeconomic factors, education, medications/supplements (by questionnaire)

and specific measurements such as blood pressure, weight, height, bio-impedance, grip strength, and ultrasound measures of heel bone density. Venous blood samples were collected [3], including DNA, and results of a panel of standard biochemical, haematological and immunological assays which are likely to be of interest to a wide range of researchers, along with pheromone chip-based genotyping data, will become available during 2014–2015. Large subsets of the full cohort have undergone additional investigations such as retinal imaging by optical coherence tomography and objective physical fitness

and activity monitoring. The baseline assessment is being repeated every few years in subsets of about 20,000 participants to enable calibration of measurements, adjustment for regression dilution, and estimation of longitudinal change. The UK Biobank database is linked with NHS information systems in order to capture data relating to incident disease outcomes (the estimated accrual of exemplar common diseases is demonstrated in Table 1). UK Biobank combines unprecedented size, breadth, and depth for a prospective longitudinal cohort study. As incident cases accrue, it will allow musculoskeletal health outcomes to be related to a uniquely broad range of risk factors through case–control studies nested within the overall cohort [1].