The UK Biobank receives death notifications on a regular basis through linkage to national death registries. In this report we present summary statistics on the most common causes of death within the UK Biobank cohort.
The main cause of death for each participant is identified by the ICD10 code. To align with researcher interests we present summary statistics for grouped ICD10 codes (see Appendix 1). Please visit UKBiobank Showcase website to see numbers of deaths for each unique ICD10 code.
This report includes complete follow-up up to the current UK Biobank censoring date for death registry data.
This document was created on 05 April 2024.
Summary figures of fewer than five participants have been anonymised, per UK Biobank’s guidance on reporting for uncommon and geographical variables. Please refer to the Useful Links section of this page for more information.
Since recruitment, 50675 UK Biobank participants have died, with a mean age at death of 71.7 years. Men constitute 59% of deaths but are on average 2 months older than women when they die.
Sex | No. | Percent | Mean Age at Death |
---|---|---|---|
F | 20990 | 41 | 71.6 |
M | 29685 | 59 | 71.8 |
The main cause of death for each participant is identified by the ICD10 code. In this analysis we do not consider deaths due to benign cancers.
Figure 1: The 20 most common main causes of death within the UK
Biobank cohort
Figure 2: The 20 most common main causes of death within the UK
Biobank cohort by sex
GroupedCause | <50 years | 50 - 60 years | 60 - 70 years | 70+ years | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ischemic heart disease | 37 | 402 | 1619 | 3356 | 5414 |
Lung cancer | 22 | 264 | 1345 | 2418 | 4049 |
Dementia | 0 | 10 | 196 | 2652 | 2858 |
Cerebrovascular disease | 6 | 116 | 487 | 1693 | 2302 |
Colorectal cancer | 18 | 254 | 694 | 1330 | 2296 |
Pancreatic cancer | 9 | 131 | 558 | 1104 | 1802 |
Breast cancer | 58 | 323 | 647 | 758 | 1786 |
COVID19 | 0 | 51 | 220 | 1259 | 1530 |
Emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | <5 | 44 | 344 | 1101 | 1493 |
Prostate cancer | <5 | 38 | 346 | 1080 | 1465 |
Injury and other external causes | 71 | 247 | 377 | 595 | 1290 |
Oesophageal cancer | 6 | 90 | 398 | 652 | 1146 |
Brain cancer | 22 | 130 | 409 | 466 | 1027 |
Lymphoma | 7 | 58 | 245 | 632 | 942 |
Parkinson and similar | 0 | 7 | 81 | 819 | 907 |
Interstitial pulmonary diseases | <5 | 19 | 179 | 705 | 905 |
Other diseases of the digestive system | 5 | 72 | 211 | 534 | 822 |
Liver cancer | <5 | 67 | 256 | 495 | 820 |
Ovarian cancer | 10 | 88 | 286 | 433 | 817 |
Pneumonia | <5 | 46 | 183 | 555 | 788 |
Top 20 Causes Total | 284 | 2457 | 9081 | 22637 | 34459 |
Other Causes Total | 196 | 1258 | 3915 | 9183 | 14552 |
GroupedCause | 2006 - 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ischemic heart disease | 386 | 204 | 217 | 254 | 261 | 302 | 338 | 403 | 383 | 390 | 474 | 591 | 639 | 564 | 8 | 5414 |
Lung cancer | 277 | 190 | 234 | 254 | 263 | 272 | 259 | 324 | 284 | 326 | 321 | 323 | 388 | 331 | <5 | 4049 |
Dementia | 5 | 9 | 21 | 41 | 38 | 65 | 118 | 155 | 227 | 268 | 349 | 429 | 534 | 597 | <5 | 2858 |
Cerebrovascular disease | 95 | 55 | 76 | 85 | 125 | 100 | 139 | 132 | 171 | 203 | 242 | 252 | 306 | 317 | <5 | 2302 |
Colorectal cancer | 132 | 122 | 119 | 117 | 147 | 144 | 165 | 156 | 147 | 191 | 222 | 199 | 187 | 245 | <5 | 2296 |
Pancreatic cancer | 97 | 59 | 88 | 84 | 99 | 117 | 118 | 142 | 151 | 144 | 161 | 192 | 180 | 167 | <5 | 1802 |
Breast cancer | 170 | 114 | 96 | 122 | 117 | 108 | 127 | 117 | 121 | 126 | 161 | 129 | 130 | 147 | <5 | 1786 |
COVID19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 699 | 558 | 179 | 94 | 0 | 1530 |
Emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 46 | 30 | 42 | 46 | 60 | 80 | 96 | 118 | 128 | 167 | 122 | 158 | 210 | 190 | 0 | 1493 |
Prostate cancer | 64 | 60 | 52 | 67 | 92 | 94 | 94 | 117 | 110 | 129 | 124 | 134 | 168 | 159 | <5 | 1465 |
Injury and other external causes | 116 | 64 | 74 | 81 | 86 | 100 | 100 | 77 | 122 | 61 | 73 | 94 | 152 | 89 | <5 | 1290 |
Oesophageal cancer | 74 | 44 | 58 | 59 | 70 | 74 | 72 | 74 | 106 | 86 | 93 | 111 | 126 | 99 | 0 | 1146 |
Brain cancer | 79 | 55 | 60 | 70 | 56 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 84 | 93 | 74 | 67 | 97 | 75 | 0 | 1027 |
Lymphoma | 51 | 38 | 46 | 40 | 65 | 72 | 57 | 61 | 63 | 71 | 77 | 90 | 110 | 101 | 0 | 942 |
Parkinson and similar | <5 | <5 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 22 | 45 | 55 | 77 | 107 | 115 | 134 | 147 | 169 | <5 | 907 |
Interstitial pulmonary diseases | 23 | 19 | 30 | 42 | 49 | 38 | 63 | 73 | 62 | 86 | 84 | 94 | 116 | 126 | 0 | 905 |
Other diseases of the digestive system | 44 | 22 | 28 | 31 | 48 | 40 | 60 | 53 | 51 | 61 | 88 | 84 | 121 | 91 | 0 | 822 |
Liver cancer | 39 | 35 | 35 | 40 | 51 | 58 | 51 | 69 | 56 | 68 | 75 | 90 | 77 | 76 | 0 | 820 |
Ovarian cancer | 56 | 43 | 40 | 55 | 46 | 56 | 57 | 59 | 60 | 64 | 83 | 62 | 77 | 59 | 0 | 817 |
Pneumonia | 29 | 11 | 24 | 26 | 34 | 60 | 57 | 50 | 89 | 84 | 66 | 62 | 102 | 93 | <5 | 788 |
Top 20 Causes Total | 1785 | 1178 | 1345 | 1525 | 1719 | 1883 | 2090 | 2297 | 2492 | 2725 | 3703 | 3853 | 4046 | 3789 | 29 | 34459 |
Other Causes Total | 780 | 522 | 540 | 718 | 784 | 856 | 962 | 1036 | 1096 | 1193 | 1299 | 1453 | 1640 | 1661 | 12 | 14552 |
GroupedCause | ICD10 Codes |
---|---|
Oesophageal cancer | C15 |
Colorectal cancer | C18, C19, C20 |
Liver cancer | C22 |
Pancreatic cancer | C25 |
Lung cancer | C33, C34 |
Breast cancer | C50 |
Ovarian cancer | C56 |
Prostate cancer | C61 |
Brain cancer | C71 |
Lymphoma | C81, C82, C83, C84, C85, C86, C88 |
Dementia | F01, F03, F05, G30, G31 |
Parkinson and similar | G20, G21, G23, G24, G25 |
Ischemic heart disease | I20, I21, I24, I25 |
Cerebrovascular disease | I60, I61, I62, I63, I64, I67, I69 |
Pneumonia | J12, J13, J15, J18 |
Emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | J43, J44 |
Interstitial pulmonary diseases | J80, J81, J82, J84 |
Other diseases of the digestive system | K31, K61, K62, K63, K71, K72, K74, K75, K76, K80, K81, K82, K83, K85, K86, K90, K92 |
COVID19 | U07 |
Injury and other external causes | V02, V03, V04, V05, V09, V13, V14, V17, V18, V19, V20, V23, V27, V28, V29, V40, V42, V43, V44, V47, V48, V49, V80, V89, V92, V93, V95, V96, V97, W00, W01, W05, W06, W07, W08, W10, W11, W13, W15, W17, W19, W20, W22, W26, W40, W54, W55, W65, W67, W69, W70, W74, W76, W78, W79, W80, W84, W87, W94, X00, X04, X08, X09, X11, X16, X23, X31, X40, X41, X42, X44, X45, X47, X49, X59, X60, X61, X62, X63, X64, X67, X69, X70, X71, X73, X74, X76, X78, X80, X81, X83, X84, X99, Y10, Y11, Y12, Y13, Y14, Y17, Y20, Y21, Y28, Y29, Y30, Y31, Y34, Y40, Y44, Y57, Y60, Y65, Y83, Y84, Y85, Y86, Y87, Y88 |