Atlas of plasma NMR biomarkers for health and disease in 118,461 individuals from the UK Biobank

TLDR

Blood lipids and metabolites serve as markers of current health and future disease risk. The study describes plasma NMR biomarker data for 118,461 UK Biobank participants and provides an atlas of associations with prevalence, incidence, and mortality of over 700 common diseases. The authors measured 249 plasma NMR biomarkers—including lipoprotein lipids, fatty acids, amino acids, ketones, and glycolysis metabolites—in 118,461 UK Biobank participants. The atlas reveals extensive biomarker associations with susceptibility to infectious diseases, various cancers, joint disorders, and mental health outcomes, shows clustering patterns indicating systemic connectivity across disease types, and underscores the value of NMR‑based metabolic profiling for public health research.

Abstract

Abstract Blood lipids and metabolites are markers of current health and future disease risk. Here, we describe plasma nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) biomarker data for 118,461 participants in the UK Biobank. The biomarkers cover 249 measures of lipoprotein lipids, fatty acids, and small molecules such as amino acids, ketones, and glycolysis metabolites. We provide an atlas of associations of these biomarkers to prevalence, incidence, and mortality of over 700 common diseases ( nightingalehealth.com/atlas ). The results reveal a plethora of biomarker associations, including susceptibility to infectious diseases and risk of various cancers, joint disorders, and mental health outcomes, indicating that abundant circulating lipids and metabolites are risk markers beyond cardiometabolic diseases. Clustering analyses indicate similar biomarker association patterns across different disease types, suggesting latent systemic connectivity in the susceptibility to a diverse set of diseases. This work highlights the value of NMR based metabolic biomarker profiling in large biobanks for public health research and translation.