UK Biobank health data of 500,000 participants found for sale on Chinese website

Medical details from 500,000 participants in the health data charity UK Biobank have been discovered for sale on the Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba. Data for sale included people's gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, mental health, self-reported medical history, cognitive function, and physical measures. Measurements from haematology, biochemistry, metabolomic, and proteomic samples, as well as data on health outcomes in conditions coded in the International Classification of Diseases, such as cancer, were also available, UK Biobank told The BMJ. UK Biobank said it had discovered three listings offering the data for sale on Monday 20 April, with at least one of these three datasets containing data from all 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers. There were also listings offering support for applying for the data. The BMJ reported the discovery on 24 April. UK Biobank is a health data charity that collects detailed biological and medical information from volunteers for research purposes.