UK Biobank was established to improve understanding of the causes of common diseases including CAD and recruited 502,713 (94% of self-reported European ancestry) individuals aged 40-69 between 2005 and 2010.  In addition to self-reported disease outcomes as well as extensive health and life-style questionnaire data, participants are being tracked through their NHS records and national registries (including cause of deaths, hospitalisations and primary care records). 

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the commonest cause of death in the world. Large scale genetic studies in UK Biobank and other large cohorts have identified so far 100 robustly associated risk loci leading to a better understanding of disease biology. We can now start exploring the common genetic risk between CAD and the broader spectrum of cardiovascular diseases including stroke, heart failure, pulmonary artery disease, and atrial fibrillation as well as traditional risk factors.  

In parallel, the Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Cardiovascular Domain is leveraging large scale whole-genome sequencing data from the 100,000 Genomes project to improve our understanding of the genetic basis of rare inherited cardiovascular disorders.