Findings from the the Health Survey for England 2011 have been released, including chapter 6: drinking patterns and chapter 7: drink diary. See here for the trend tables, trend commentary and press release.
The report broadly reflects known general consumption patterns. Young adults are more likely to drink heavily (binge) on a single occasion, but drink on fewer days in the week. Adults over 45 are more likely to drink on most days, but tend to drink less per day. Those from higher socio-economic groups are more likely to drink above the guidelines and do so more regularly. Men drink significantly more than women across most age groups.
The drink diary chapter is a new addition to test how reported consumption matches up when recorded by the drinker. Although reported frequency of drinking tended to match, consumption levels tended to be under-estimated when compared with a drinks diary. The survey data is still considered reliable in determining consumption patterns and variations across age, sex, region and income groups.
Some specific findings include:
- Focusing only on those who drank alcohol in the last week, over half exceeded recommended limits on at least one day in the previous week (56% of men, 52% of women), while over a quarter drank more than twice the recommended limit (31% of men, 25% of women). Men drank an average of 7.7 units, and women an average of 5.0 units on the day they drank the most in the last week.
- Younger people were the most likely to drink heavily on a single occasion: 67% of men and 68% of women aged 16-24 drank above the recommended level, and 45% and 46% respectively drank more than twice the recommended amount.
- The proportion of men consuming more than four units on the heaviest day’s drinking in the last week did not show substantial change between 2006 and 2011 (39 per cent in 2011), and similarly the proportion of men that drank more than twice the recommended amount showed little change over the period (22 per cent in 2011).
- The picture was different among women: there was a decrease between 2006 and 2011 both in the proportion consuming more than three units on the heaviest day’s drinking last week (from 33 per cent to 28 per cent), and in the proportion drinking more than twice the recommended amount (from 16 per cent to 13 per cent).
The figures prove interesting given indications that overall alcohol consumption has been falling since 2004. However consumption it still significantly higher as a longer term trend, and it has been suggested that consumption may have dipped in part due to the recession. A continuing rise in alcohol-related and primary alcohol attributable hospital conditions is also set to continue for sometime.
See here for the comprehensive statistics on alcohol for England 2012.
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