ukbtools: An R package to manage and query UK Biobank data

Area of Science:

• Bioinformatics
• Data Science
• Genomics

Background:

• The UK Biobank (UKB) offers extensive health data for 500,000 individuals.
• Data accessibility is hindered by varied formats, large file sizes, and numerical column names.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ukbtools, a software package designed to streamline UK Biobank data analysis.
• To overcome common obstacles in preparing UKB data for research.

Main Methods:

• The ukbtools package merges diverse UK Biobank data files into a unified dataset.
• It assigns descriptive column names, replacing numerical codes.
• Includes functions for data quality control, demographic exploration, disease querying, and genetic metadata retrieval.

Main Results:

• Consolidated UK Biobank datasets with meaningful variable names.
• Provided UKB-specific tools for exploratory data analysis.
• Enabled efficient querying of disease diagnoses and genetic metadata.

Conclusions:

• ukbtools significantly reduces the data wrangling burden for UK Biobank researchers.
• The package accelerates research by providing accessible, well-organized data and specialized analytical tools.