Establishing rates of binge drinking in the UK: anomalies in the data

Several studies funded by the UK government have been influential in understanding rates of 'binge drinking' in the UK. This analysis aims to establish consistency between results and clarify UK rates of binge drinking.

The relevant sections of these surveys were compared: the Scottish Health Survey (SHS) 1998, the General Household Survey (GHS) 2002, and the Health Survey for England (HSE) 2003. In addition the methodology used by the Health Protection Agency in the Adult Drinking Patterns in Northern Ireland (2003) was compared with the approach used by the SHS, GHS, and HSE.

Marked differences were observed between the results of the GHS 2002 and both the SHS 1998 and the HSE 2002 despite each using a similar methodology, with the HSE 2003 reporting a rate of 'binge drinking' in young males of 57%, and the GHS reporting a rate of 35%. This difference may be largely attributed to variations in the criteria in binge drinking in each study. These differences in interpretation do not appear to have been acknowledged. Indeed several key documents on alcohol harm reduction made inaccurate citations of previous surveys.

The media rhetoric on escalating rates of binge drinking in the UK should be regarded with caution until trends are based on standardized recording and reporting.