Cognitive Test Scores in UK Biobank: Data Reduction in 480,416 Participants and Longitudinal Stability in 20,346 Participants.
UK Biobank includes 502,649 middle- and older-aged adults from the general population who have undergone detailed phenotypic assessment. The majority of participants completed tests of cognitive functioning, and on average four years later a sub-group of N = 20,346 participants repeated most of the assessment. These measures will be used in a range of future studies of health outcomes in this cohort. The format and content of the cognitive tasks were partly novel. The aim of the present study was to validate and characterize the cognitive data: to describe the inter-correlational structure of the cognitive variables at baseline assessment, and the degree of stability in scores across longitudinal assessment. Baseline cognitive data were used to examine the inter-correlational/factor-structure, using principal components analysis (PCA). We also assessed the degree of stability in cognitive scores in the subsample of participants with repeat data. The different tests of cognitive ability showed significant raw inter-correlations in the expected directions. PCA suggested a one-factor solution (eigenvalue = 1.60), which accounted for around 40% of the variance. Scores showed varying levels of stability across time-points (intraclass correlation range = 0.16 to 0.65). UK Biobank cognitive data has the potential to be a significant resource for researchers looking to investigate predictors and modifiers of cognitive abilities and associated health outcomes in the general population.
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Donald M
DM
Lyall
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Breda
B
Cullen
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Mike
M
Allerhand
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Daniel J
DJ
Smith
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Daniel
D
Mackay
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Jonathan
J
Evans
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Jana
J
Anderson
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Chloe
C
Fawns-Ritchie
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Andrew M
AM
McIntosh
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Ian J
IJ
Deary
Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Jill P
JP
Pell
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058011:Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011581:Psychological Tests; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology