Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a series of surveys designed to monitor trends in the nation's health.  It was commissioned by NHS Digital and carried out by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.The aims of the HSE series are:to provide annual data about the nation’s health;to estimate the proportion of people in England with specified health conditions;to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these conditions;to examine differences between population subgroups in their likelihood of having specific conditions or risk factors;to assess the frequency with which particular combinations of risk factors are found, and which groups these combinations most commonly occur;to monitor progress towards selected health targetssince 1995, to measure the height of children at different ages, replacing the National Study of Health and Growth;since 1995, monitor the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.The survey includes a number of core questions every year but also focuses on different health issues at each wave. Topics are revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change. Further information about the series may be found on the NHS Digital Health Survey for England; health, social care and lifestyles webpage, the NatCen Social Research NatCen Health Survey for England webpage and the University College London Health and Social Surveys Research Group UCL Health Survey for England webpage. Changes to the HSE from 2015:Users should note that from 2015 survey onwards, only the individual data file is available under standard End User Licence (EUL). The household data file is now only included in the Special Licence (SL) version, released from 2015 onwards. In addition, the SL individual file contains all the variables included in the HSE EUL dataset, plus others, including variables removed from the EUL version after the NHS Digital disclosure review. The SL HSE is subject to more restrictive access conditions than the EUL version (see Access information). Users are advised to obtain the EUL version to see if it meets their needs before considering an application for the SL version.

The Health Survey for England, 2016: Special Licence Access is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 9084. Latest edition information: For the fourth edition (May 2023), a number of corrections were made to the data file and the data documentation file. Further information is available in the documentation file '8334_hse_2016_eul_v5_corrections_to_ukds.pdf'.

Main Topics:

Data collection involved an interview, followed by a visit from a specially trained nurse for all those in the core sample who agreed. The 2016 survey included additional topics for adults on physical activity, weight management, kidney and liver disease and problem gambling. The survey also provided updates on repeated core topics, including general health, long standing illness, smoking and drinking. The nurse visit covered height and weight measurement, blood pressure measurement, waist and hip circumference measurement, taking of blood samples for cholesterol and glycated haemoglobin, and taking of adult and child saliva samples. In 2016, urine samples were also collected from adult participants.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Self-administered questionnaire

Clinical measurements

Diaries

Physical measurements and tests