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 focus for the HSE 2013 was social care. The survey also provided updates on core topics including smoking, drinking and general health. Additional non-core modules included eyesight, end-of-life care, shift work, average weekly alcohol consumption, well-being, and physical activity. Latest edition informationFor the second edition (June 2023), the following changes have been made: 1) The variable MedsNum2G8 has been corrected and is now derived from Mednum2, which is the derived variable that excludes contraceptives and nicotine dependency drugs. 2) Variables SOC2010B and HRPSOC10B have had one category corrected that was incorrectly coded. 3) Variables NATID2 and NATID3 have had their labels corrected to NatID2 "National identity: Welsh" and NatID3 "National identity: Scottish". 4) Variables YNATSC2 and YNATSC3 have had their labels corrected to YNATSC2 "National identity: Welsh (SC)" and YNATSC3 "National identity: Scottish (SC)". 5) Seven cases that were coded into the wrong category in variable BMISRG5 have been corrected. 6) Two cases in variable CIGDYAL have been recoded to '-8' rather than '97 ("don’t know"). 7) The variable ANTIBACTAK has had its label corrected. 8) The documentation has also been updated to reflect these changes.

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 nurse visit covered clinical and anthropometric measures, blood, urine and saliva samples, and prescribed medications. Question modules covered general health, longstanding illness, social care, doctor-diagnosed hypertension, diabetes, smoking, alcohol drinking (heaviest day in last week), consent to data linkage, and demographic characteristics. Additional topics included for 2013 were eyesight, end of life care, shift work, average weekly alcohol consumption, well-being, and physical activity.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

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

Self-administered questionnaire

Clinical measurements

Physical measurements and tests