Study design and population

The UK Biobank is a population-based cohort of over 500,000 participants that was designed to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic conditions. Between 2006 and 2010, all UK residents registered with the National Health Service, aged 40–69 years, and living within 25 miles of one of the 22 assessment centers across the country, were invited to participate. At baseline assessment, participants completed a detailed touch-screen questionnaire which collected demographic, lifestyle, and medical information. Biological samples (such as blood and saliva) and physical measurements (such as height and weight) were also collected. Between 2014 and 2020, enrolled participants were invited to participate in a follow-up assessment in which they repeated the initial questionnaire and underwent brain imaging protocols. Participants also regularly responded to web-based questionnaires including a mental health questionnaire between 2016 and 2017. The current study includes 36,822 participants with genetic, brain imaging, and chronic pain data. A sub-cohort of 25,280 participants with childhood trauma data was used for secondary analyses.

The present analyses were conducted under UK Biobank application number 48168⁴⁵. All participants provided informed consent and all methods described in the current manuscript were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. Further information on the consent procedure can be found elsewhere (http://biobank.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/crystal/field.cgi?id=200).