Health Study for England

The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation’s health, to estimate the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and to estimate the prevalence of risk factors associated with these conditions. The surveys provide regular information that cannot be obtained from other sources on a range of aspects concerning the public’s health. The surveys have been carried out since 1994 by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of NatCen Social Research and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL. Individuals are asked for written consent to link their HSE records to mortality and cancer registration data (from HSE 1994 onwards) and to Hospital Episodes Statistics (from HSE 2003 participants onwards).

Each survey in the series includes core questions and measurements (such as blood pressure, height and weight, and analysis of blood and saliva samples), as well as modules of questions on topics that vary from year to year. New topics in 2014 year included hearing and mental health. The achieved sample for the 2014 survey was 8,077 adults (aged 16 and over) and 2,003 children (aged 0-15).

Types General population-based cohort
Participant Types No diagnosis
Countries United Kingdom
Genders Male and Female
Sample sizes 50,000 to 99,999
Ages 0 to 9|10 to 19|20 to 39|40 to 59|60 to 100
Brain related measures
Funtional rating Individual physiological|Individual psychological
Anthropometric Blood pressure|Height|Hip circumference|Waist circumference|Weight
Physical Hearing and Vision|Respiratory
Biological samples Blood|Saliva|Urine
Genotyping
Brain imaging
Brain banking
Lifestyle Alcohol|Dietary habits|Physical activity|Smoking
Socio-economic Education|Ethnic group|Family circumstances|Housing and accommodation|Income and finances|Marital status|Occupation and employment|Unpaid care
Health service utilisation Formal health and social care service utilisation including private care
Institute names UCL (University College London) and NatCen Social Research
Current Sample Sizes 50,000 to 99,999

age at recruitment >0
last updated
recruitment period 1991 onwards
estimated current sample size number value
cohort acronym HSE
start date 1991 onwards
pi Professor Jennifer Mindell (UCL) and Anne Conolly (NatCen)
website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hssrg/studies/hse
contact details HSSRG, Research Dept Epidemiology & Public Health
1-19 Torrington Place
London
WC1E 6BT
abstract  The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation’s health.
funders  NHS Digital
contact email PI email: [email protected]; [email protected]
contact phone number Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 1866; +44 (0) 20 7679 1269
estimated current sample size
sample sizes >10,000