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 version of the dataset contains variables with a higher disclosure risk or are more sensitive than those included in the EUL version and is subject to more restrictive access conditions (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.COVID-19 and the HSE:Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the HSE 2020 survey was stopped in March 2020 and never re-started. There was no publication that year. The survey resumed in 2021, albeit with an amended methodology. The full HSE resumed in 2022, with an extended fieldwork period. Due to this, the decision was taken not to progress with the 2023 survey, to maximise the 2022 survey response and enable more robust reporting of data. See the NHS Digital Health Survey for England - Health, social care and lifestyles webpage for more details.

Chlamydia trachomatis (‘chlamydia’) is the most commonly diagnosed bacterial sexually transmitted infection in England. Rates of chlamydia testing and diagnosis have increased over the past decade, especially following the full implementation of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in 2008. Having antibodies to an infection indicate that someone has been previously infected, even if they have been treated, or the infection has cleared on its own. By measuring the proportion of the population with antibodies to an infection in their blood, we can estimate the proportion that has ever been exposed to antibody inducing infections. The project aimed to investigate trends in exposure to chlamydia among adults in England, and to identify factors associated with having antibodies to these infections. This project used information and stored blood samples from the Health Survey for England (HSE), a series of annual, nationally representative samples of the general population). Serum (blood) samples from HSE were tested for antibodies to chlamydia. Samples from three periods were tested, to investigate changes in exposure to infection over time: 1994-1996, 2001-2002 and 2008-2012. Samples were also tested for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2). HSV2 is the main cause of genital herpes, which is the second most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted virus in England. HSV2 is almost exclusively sexually transmitted and risk of acquisition is closely related to sexual behaviour. Having antibodies to HSV2 therefore provides a biological (as opposed to a self-reported) marker of sexual behaviour. The disaggregate dataset includes demographic and sexual behaviour characteristics from the HSE questionnaire to allow the investigation of risk factors associated with having antibodies to chlamydia or HSV2.

Main Topics:

This study covers the following topics: national prevalence of antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes Simplex Virus (Type 2); sexual behaviour; demographics.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview