1 Introduction

Data on cancer diagnoses is provided to UK Biobank by the NHS Digital and Public Health England for participants residing in England and Wales, and the NHS Central Register (NHSCR) for participants residing in Scotland. Cancer registries acquire information on cancer diagnoses from a variety of sources including hospitals, cancer centres and treatment centres, hospices and nursing homes, private hospitals, cancer screening programmes, other cancer registers, general practices, death certificates, and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Cancer Waiting Time (CWT) data. (In many instances, more than one source of information is available to cancer registries from a single organisation, for example hospital patient information systems, pathology laboratories, medical records departments and radiotherapy databases). This report details the number of prevalent and incident cases of cancer within the UK Biobank cohort, as identified through linkage to national cancer registries.

2 Aim

The aim of this report is to provide researchers with an indication of the numbers of prevalent and incident cases of cancers in the UK Biobank Resource, in order to guide timings for submitting cancer-related research applications. Please See Table 1.

  • Prevalent cases of cancer are defined as those diagnosed prior to the recruitment date into UK Biobank.
  • Incident cases of cancer are defined as those diagnosed after the recruitment date into UK Biobank.

3 Inclusion criteria

  • If a participant was diagnosed with cancer before and after baseline, only the prevalent case is counted.

  • If a participant was diagnosed several times with cancer in the same site, only the first one is counted.

  • If a participant was diagnosed with cancer in different sites on different dates, only the first one is counted.

  • If a participant was diagnosed with cancer in different sites on the same date, both are counted. This occurs for (N = 687 individuals with prevalent cancers and 376 individuals with incident cancers).

  • ICD10 diagnoses C44.0-C44.9 (non-melanoma skin cancer) are excluded.

  • This summary includes only cancers identified from the cancer registry. Cancer records from self-reported cancer, primary care records, hospital records are not included here.

  • The numbers of cases of cancers is provided by broad cancer groupings (according to ICD10 or ICD9 codes), as well as the numbers for individual sub-sites of most interest to researchers. Please contact the Access Team if you wish to enquire about the numbers of cases of a specific cancer site (i.e. for ICD10/ICD9 codes not included in this report).

  • The earliest record of cancer diagnosis in the UK Biobank cohort is 20 September 1957. This is the earliest date for which cancer registry data is available and hence cancers diagnosed prior to this date are not included here.

  • The numbers of cases of benign neoplasms may be under-estimated because not all benign neoplasms are routinely registered by cancer registries.

  • It has not been possible to identify the correct grouping for some records, owing to ambiguities in mapping some ICD9 codes to an ICD10 definition. Those records have been labelled as ‘Undefined’.

  • The contents of this document will be updated periodically, as and when follow-up data is incorporated into the UK Biobank Resource.

4 Information on this report

  • This report was created on 04 September, 2025.
  • This report includes the numbers of cancers diagnosed during complete follow-up, as defined by the UK Biobank censoring date.
  • The latest cancer registry record linked to UKBiobank data is dated 20 January, 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.



5 Numbers of prevalent and incident cancers

Table 1: Number of prevalent and incident cancers identified from the cancer registry for UK Biobank participants
Type Group Site Prevalent Incident
Malignant Oral cancer Total 551 1099
Lip 28 34
Base Of Tongue 42 159
Other And Unspecified Parts Of Tongue 111 179
Gum 17 66
Floor Of Mouth 32 38
Palate 37 57
Other And Unspecified Parts Of Mouth 29 68
Parotid Gland 72 76
Other And Unspecified Major Salivary Glands 19 28
Tonsil 103 267
Oropharynx 12 39
Nasopharynx 25 26
Pyriform Sinus 12 30
Hypopharynx < 5 22
Other And Ill-Defined Sites In The Lip, Oral Cavity And Pharynx 9 10
Gastrointestinal cancer Total 2902 11193
Oesophagus 141 1127
Stomach 148 770
Small Intestine 58 266
Colon 1373 4256
Rectosigmoid Junction 237 347
Rectum 725 1748
Anus And Anal Canal 81 192
Liver And Intrahepatic Bile Ducts 37 695
Gallbladder 7 123
Other And Unspecified Parts Of Biliary Tract 34 213
Pancreas 55 1420
Other And Ill-Defined Digestive Organs 6 36
Lung cancer Total 303 4302
Trachea < 5 < 5
Bronchus And Lung 299 4298
Respiratory cancer Total 231 313
Nasal Cavity And Middle Ear 17 45
Accessory Sinuses 9 17
Larynx 188 195
Thymus 12 37
Heart, Mediastinum And Pleura 5 16
Other And Ill-Defined Sites In The Respiratory System And Intrathoracic Organs 0 < 5
Bone cancer Total 68 56
Bone And Articular Cartilage Of Limbs 37 31
Bone And Articular Cartilage Of Other And Unspecified Sites 31 25
Skin cancer Total 2115 3086
Malignant Melanoma Of Skin 2115 3086
Mesothelioma Total 223 862
Mesothelioma 12 435
Kaposi’s Sarcoma 12 8
Peripheral Nerves And Autonomic Nervous System 12 7
Retroperitoneum And Peritoneum 33 166
Other Connective And Soft Tissue 154 246
Breast cancer Total 9178 9670
Breast 9178 9670
Female genital cancer Total 2593 3169
Vulva 71 138
Vagina 12 19
Cervix Uteri 936 124
Corpus Uteri 870 1627
Uterus 22 33
Ovary 647 1074
Other And Unspecified Female Genital Organs 23 154
Placenta 12 0
Male genital cancer Total 3876 12728
Penis 36 66
Prostate 3122 12551
Testis 706 96
Other And Unspecified Male Genital Organs 12 15
Urinary tract cancer Total 1126 2903
Kidney 489 1509
Renal Pelvis 16 101
Ureter 11 78
Bladder 605 1195
Other And Unspecified Urinary Organs 5 20
Eye, brain, neural cancer Total 274 1000
Eye And Adnexa 105 126
Meninges 9 10
Brain 139 849
Spinal Cord, Cranial Nerves And Other Parts Of Central Nervous System 21 15
Endocrine cancer Total 370 475
Thyroid Gland 323 443
Adrenal Gland 15 25
Other Endocrine Glands And Related Structures 32 7
Lymphoma Total 1449 2587
Hodgkin’s Disease 404 160
Follicular (Nodular) Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 379 528
Diffuse Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 372 1167
Peripheral And Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphomas 78 183
Other And Unspecified Types Of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 208 475
Other Specified Types Of T-Nk-Cell Lymphoma 0 6
Malignant Immunoproliferative Diseases 8 68
Multiple myeloma Total 193 987
Multiple Myeloma And Malignant Plasma Cell Neoplasms 193 987
Leukaemia Total 516 1376
Lymphoid Leukaemia 309 850
Myeloid Leukaemia 192 484
Monocytic Leukaemia < 5 19
Other Leukaemias Of Specified Cell Type < 5 7
Leukaemia Of Unspecified Cell Type 10 16
Malignant neoplasms of lymphoid, haematopoietic and related tissue Total 12 31
Other And Unspecified Malignant Neoplasms Of Lymphoid, Haematopoietic And Related Tissue 12 31
Carcinoma in situ In situ neoplasms Total 9226 7209
Oral Cavity, Oesophagus And Stomach 19 133
Other And Unspecified Digestive Organs 85 688
Middle Ear And Respiratory System 32 66
Melanoma In Situ 524 1479
Skin 726 757
Breast 1395 1833
Cervix Uteri 5628 413
Other And Unspecified Genital Organs 305 550
Other And Unspecified Sites 512 1290
Benign Benign cancer Total 798 806
Mouth And Pharynx < 5 0
Major Salivary Glands 46 0
Colon, Rectum, Anus And Anal Canal < 5 0
Other And Ill-Defined Parts Of Digestive System 0 < 5
Other And Unspecified Intrathoracic Organs 0 < 5
Bone And Articular Cartilage < 5 < 5
Benign Haemangioma And Lymphangioma, Any Site 5 0
Other Benign Neoplasms Of Connective And Other Soft Tissue < 5 < 5
Ovary < 5 0
Male Genital Organs 0 < 5
Urinary Organs 7 < 5
Meninges 292 450
Brain And Other Parts Of Central Nervous System 207 173
Thyroid Gland < 5 0
Other And Unspecified Endocrine Glands 222 175
Other And Unspecified Sites < 5 0
Unspecified Unspecified cancer Total 1797 2993
Other And Ill-Defined Sites 26 30
Secondary And Unspecified Malignant Neoplasm Of Lymph Nodes 98 91
Secondary Malignant Neoplasm Of Respiratory And Digestive Organs 21 186
Secondary Malignant Neoplasm Of Other Sites 22 75
Malignant Neoplasm Without Specification Of Site 42 327
Independent (Primary) Multiple Sites 0 < 5
Oral Cavity And Digestive Organs 252 258
Middle Ear And Respiratory And Intrathoracic Organs 26 19
Female Genital Organs 276 40
Male Genital Organs 31 22
Urinary Organs 369 502
Meninges 11 52
Brain And Central Nervous System 71 60
Endocrine Glands 61 33
Polycythemia Vera 121 143
Myelodysplastic Syndromes 31 319
Neoplasms Of Uncertain Or Unknown Behaviour Of Lymphoid, Haematopoietic And Related Tissue 182 581
Other And Unspecified Sites 157 254
Undefined Undefined Total 279 0
Undefined 279 0