NHS primary care data joins UK Biobank for 500,000 volunteers, making early risk, multimorbidity and prevention easier to study. For a resource already spanning genomics, imaging, biomarker assays and hospital episode statistics, the addition of longitudinal GP data alters the temporal resolution of inquiry. A shift in where disease is seenHospital data capture events; GP records capture trajectories. Hospital data tell us when something has gone wrong; primary care data tell us when it started to go wrong – the first elevated HbA1c, the creeping blood pressure, the prescription that quietly becomes polypharmacy. A prevention lensBy incorporating primary care data into a national cohort at scale, the UK is testing a model in which prevention is not a slogan but a data architecture.

Source: The Guardian February 11, 2026 19:04 UTC