Publication, Part of Statistics on Public Health

Statistics on Public Health, England 2021

Official statistics, National statistics, Accredited official statistics

Publication Date:: 20 Jul 2023
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Clinical Commissioning Groups, Clinical Commissioning Regions, Local Authorities, Country, Deprivation
Date Range:: 01 Apr 2020 to 31 Mar 2021

Introduction

This publication is a combination of four previous publications:

In this first edition the content is based on that previously published but in a new consolidated format to provide users with a first view of the look and feel being planned. We welcome feedback on this.

We plan to publish updated data for 2020/21 through to 2022/23 later in 2023 with the publication then being produced routinely in the autumn each year.

The publication is broken down by data source and within that the domains as follows:

Part 1: Hospital Admissions - for all lifestyle domains, though Alcohol is sourced from Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).
Part 2: Mortality - for the Smoking domain only.
Part 3: Prescriptions - for Alcohol, Obesity and Smoking.
Part 4: Affordability and Expenditure - Alcohol and Smoking.
Part 5: Other Data Sources - for all lifestyle domains.

Alcohol

Alcohol summary

This report presents newly published information on prescriptions items for drugs used to treat alcohol dependence and affordability of alcohol and expenditure on alcohol.

The report also provides commentary on hospital admissions for diseases, injuries and conditions that can be attributed to alcohol consumption. The data in this section comes from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) Local Alcohol Profiles for England, which use data from NHS England’s Hospital Episode Statistics.

Additionally, the report provides links to information relating to alcohol use and misuse drawn from a variety of sources including alcohol-specific deaths; drinking behaviours among adults and children and road casualties involving illegal alcohol levels.

The publication includes this summary report showing key findings, excel tables, technical appendices and a data quality statement.

The publication of this report was delayed from October 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) requiring changes to the statistical production schedule.

A consultation was conducted in early 2022 and a consultation outcomes document can be found below under Resources.

Alcohol key facts

Key facts cover the latest year of data available:

Hospital admissions - 2019/20
Prescriptions - 2020/21

Admissions to hospital

280 thousand estimated admissions to hospital in 2019/20 where the main reason was attributable to alcohol, 2% higher than 2018/19 and 8% higher than 2016/17.

Male and Female Admissions

More men than women were admitted where the main reason was attributable to alcohol, 65% of the patients were male.

Prescription items dispensed

167 thousand prescription items dispensed in 2020/21 to treat alcohol dependence, 1% higher than 2019/20 but 15% lower than 2014/15.

Drug use

Drug use summary

This report presents newly published information on hospital admissions attributable to drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders and on hospital admissions attributable to poisoning by illicit drugs.

The report also provides links to information on drug misuse among both adults and children from a variety of sources, including the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System and the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Additionally, a data visualisation tool (link provided below) allows users to select the drug-related hospital admissions data for any Local Authority (as contained in the data tables), along with time series data from 2013/14. Regional and national comparisons are also provided.

The publication of this report was delayed from July 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) requiring changes to the statistical production schedule.

Drug use key facts

Key facts cover 2019/20 which is the latest year of available data for hospital admissions.

Hospital admissions for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders

7,027 hospital admissions for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders, 5% lower than 2018/19 (7,376), but 21% higher than 2009/10 (5,809). Admissions were around 5 times more likely in the most deprived areas, compared to the least deprived areas.

Hospital admissions for poisoning

16,994 hospital admissions for poisoning by drug misuse, 6% lower than 2018/19 (18,053), but 9% higher than 2012/13 (15,580). Admissions were around 5 times more likely in the most deprived areas, compared to the least deprived areas.

Admissions with drug-related mental and behavioural disorders

99,782 admissions with a primary or secondary diagnosis of drug-related mental and behavioural disorders, 3% higher than 2018/19, when there were 96,705 admissions. Admissions were over 8 times more likely in the most deprived areas, compared to the least deprived areas.

Data visualisation tool

Please feedback if you have any improvements by contacting us.

Obesity

Obesity summary

This report presents newly published information on obesity-related hospital admissions and the number of prescription items provided in primary care for the treatment of obesity.

The report also provides links to information on obesity, physical activity and diet from a variety of sources, including the Health Survey for England, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and Sport England’s Active Lives surveys.

Additionally, a data visualisation tool (link provided below) allows users to select the obesity-related hospital admissions data for any Local Authority (as contained in the data tables), along with time series data from 2013/14. Regional and national comparisons are also provided.

Obesity key facts

Key facts cover latest year of data available: 2019/20 for hospital admissions and 2020 for prescriptions

Directly attributable hospital admissions

10,780 hospital admissions directly attributable to obesity, a decrease of 3% on 2018/19, when there were 11,117 admissions.

Hospital admissions where obesity was a factor

Just over 1 million (1,022 thousand) hospital admissions where obesity was a factor, an increase of 17% on 2018/19, when there were 876 thousand.

Prescriptions for the treatment of obesity

294 thousand items prescribed for the treatment of obesity, a decrease of 17% on 2019, when there were 355 thousand.

Data visualisation tool

Please feedback if you have any improvements by contacting us.

Smoking

Smoking summary

This report presents newly published information on smoking including:

Smoking-related hospital admissions from NHS England's Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
Smoking-related deaths from Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality statistics.
Prescription items used to help people stop smoking from prescribing data held by NHS Prescription Services.
Affordability of tobacco and expenditure on tobacco using ONS economic data.

Two new years of data have been provided for hospital admissions (2018/19 and 2019/20) and deaths (2018 and 2019) and one year of data for prescribing (2018/19) and affordability and expenditure (2019).

The report also provides links to information on smoking by adults and children drawn together from a variety of sources.

Smoking key facts

Key facts cover the latest year of data available:

Hospital admissions: 2019/20
Deaths: 2019
Prescriptions: 2019/20

Hospital admissions attributable to smoking

506,100 hospital admissions attributable to smoking. Similar to 2018/19 but 10% higher than 2009/10 when it was 461,700.

Deaths

74,600 deaths attributable to smoking, a decrease of 3% from 2018 (77,000) and 9% from 2009 (82,000).

Prescriptions

710 thousand prescription items to help people stop smoking dispensed, a decrease of 4% from 2018/19 (740 thousand) and 71% from 2009/10 (2.48 million).

Resources

Lifestyles Compendia Consultation

pdf 591 KB

Last edited: 1 December 2023 1:50 pm