Scottish Health Survey, 2024

The <i>Scottish Health Survey</i> (SHeS) series was established in 1995. Commissioned by the Scottish Government Health Directorates, the series provides regular information on aspects of the public's health and factors related to health which cannot be obtained from other sources. The SHeS series was designed to:<ul><li>estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland;</li><li>estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours;</li><li>look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England;</li><li>monitor trends in the population's health over time;</li><li>make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets.</li></ul>Each survey in the series includes a set of core questions and measurements (height and weight and, if applicable, blood pressure, waist circumference, urine and saliva samples), plus modules of questions on specific health conditions that vary from year to year. Each year the core sample has also been augmented by an additional boosted sample for children. Since 2008 NHS Health Boards have also had the opportunity to boost the number of adult interviews carried out in their area. <br>
<br>
The Scottish Government <a href="https://www.gov.scot/collections/scottish-health-survey/" title="Scottish Health Survey">Scottish Health Survey</a> webpages contain further information about the series, including latest news and publications. <br>
<br>
<p><span style="font-style: italic;">The Scottish Health Survey 2024 (SHeS24)</span> is the twentieth survey in the series. For the Core sample, potential participants were contacted by letter and invited to take part in an in-home interview. A telephone contingency was retained for respondents unwilling to have the interviewer enter their home due to health concerns. This included similar content to earlier survey years, as well as interviews with or on behalf of children.</p><p>For the child boost, participants were visited on the doorstep and up to 2 children per household were invited to take part in an in-home interview. This sample was linked to the Community Health Index (CHI) database.</p><p>Participants aged 16 and above were also invited to complete an online recall using Intake24. Participants were asked to provide verbal consent, which was recorded in CAPI. Respondents were also given a leaflet with some key information about Intake24 included. Those who agreed were invited to complete two dietary recalls, either independently or via a phone call with the National Centre for Social Research telephone unit.</p><p>The study also includes combined datasets covering 2023/2024, 2022/2024, 2022/2023/2024 and 2021/2022/2023/2024. They contain information from the household questionnaires, main individual schedules and self-completions. The combined datasets have been provided to give a larger base for the analysis of variables. The individual year datasets should be used for the analysis of individual years, including comparisons between years.</p>