Health Survey for England 2021

When applying the revised conversion factors to alcohol estimates in HSE 2021, the maximum amount of alcohol drunk on any day in the last week was 12.4 units on average (mean) among adults who drank alcohol. This was higher than the estimate using the original conversion factors, which was 11.6 units. Among men who drank alcohol, this difference was 1.1 units, (14.7 units compared with 15.7 units), which is greater than among women who drank alcohol, where the difference was 0.5 units greater (8.5 units compared with 9.0 units). The difference in mean consumption was higher among men than women, and varied by age, being largest amongst those aged 45 to 74.

The proportion of all adults classified as drinking at increasing or higher risk (over 14 units of alcohol a week) was higher using the revised conversion factors compared with original conversion factors (23% and 21%, respectively). Among men the proportion was two percentage points higher (30% compared with 28%), and among women it was one percentage point higher (16% compared with 15%).

Similar to HSE 2019, after the revised conversion factors were applied, the patterns in the proportion of adults classified as drinking at increasing or higher risk by sex and age groups were broadly similar to those calculated with the original conversion factors.

The differences in the proportion of adults classified as drinking at increasing or higher risk ranged from one to three percentage points across each age group. The largest differences in estimates were for women aged 55 to 64 (three percentage points higher) and men aged 45 to 64 (three percentage points higher). No age group was found to have a higher probability of being an increasing or higher risk drinker when using the revised conversion factors instead of original conversion factors.

The proportion of adults who drank more than three units (women) or four units (men) on any day in the last week was higher using the revised conversion factors (32%) compared with the original conversion factors (26%). For men the revised estimates were seven percentage points higher (36% compared with 29%), and for women they were four percentage points higher (28% compared with 24%).

Similarly, the proportion who drank more than three units (women) or four units (men) on any day in the last week varied by sex and age group in a similar pattern following the revised conversion factors. The differences in proportions between the revised and original conversion factors ranged from one to 10 percentage points across age groups and were greater among older age groups. The largest differences in the proportion of women who drank more than three units on any day in the last week was among those aged 45 to 74 (five percentage points higher). The largest differences in the proportion of men who drank more than four units on any day in the last week was among those aged 45 to 64 (eight percentage points higher) and 65 to 74 (10 percentage points higher).