747,000 people have now given data to the NIH’s All of Us program. That is 114,000 more than at the last update, and it is the base of what the agency calls the world’s largest integrated health database.
The NIH made the announcement on June 30. Congress created the program in a 2016 law, and its stated aim is to collect and study data from one million or more people living in the United States. The data is open to researchers at no cost.
By the numbers
The new release holds more than 535,000 whole genome sequences, linked to nearly 482,000 electronic health records. It also has 600,000 physical measurements and 747,000 survey responses.
“There’s a paradox at the heart of precision medicine,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “To tailor treatments to individuals, you actually need very large populations to uncover the patterns that connect genetics, lifestyle, and the environment to health outcomes. That is exactly what All of Us provides: research at unprecedented scale.”
Who is in it
Officials point to the make-up of the group as the main selling point. Nearly half of participants are minorities. About a quarter are 70 or older, and 21 percent are under 40. Every one of the 50 states is represented.
Other big databases do not match that spread. The UK Biobank holds records for half a million people, of whom 95 percent are white and 86 percent live in urban areas.
Dr. Josh Denny, CEO of the program, said the release “puts a richer dataset into the hands of scientists working on real clinical problems.” He added: “All of Us reflects the trust of people across the country who chose to contribute to research to benefit everyone.”
What it has produced
Researchers have already drawn on the data for more than 1,400 papers in peer-reviewed journals. One line of work identified medications that may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. A study in the Journal of Pain in the fall of 2025 found that more active people had a lower risk of neck, lower back and hip pain later on.
Bhattacharya called the program “a national treasure.” In his words, it is “an accessible, foundational platform that investigators at every career stage in institutions across the country can use to tackle our most pressing health challenges.”
