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Publication, Part of

Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England - 2007, Results of a household survey

Accredited official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country
Date Range:
01 Oct 2006 to 31 Dec 2007

Summary

Find out about our plans for the 2014 statistics which will be published in September 2016 on the APMS web page accessible from the related links section

The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) series provides data on the prevalence of both treated and untreated psychiatric disorder in the English adult population (aged 16 and over. This survey is the third in a series and was conducted by the National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with the University of Leicester for the NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

The previous surveys were conducted in 1993 (16-64 year olds) and 2000 (16-74 year olds) by the Office for National Statistics, and covered England, Scotland and Wales.

Topics covered:

Common mental disorders; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Suicidal thoughts, attempts and self-harm; Psychosis; Antisocial and borderline personality disorders; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Eating disorder; Alcohol misuse and dependency; Drug use and dependency; Problem gambling; Psychiatric comorbidity

The survey used a robust stratified, multi-stage probability sample of households and assesses psychiatric disorder where possible to actual diagnostic criteria.

Corrections and Clarifications:

Within the Alcohol chapter an error in the AUDIT scoring syntax used in the heavy drinking calculation in the Alcohol chapter of the 2007 survey has been identified during the final preparation of the 2014 publication. The 2007 data has been revised in the 2014 publication so that it is correct and is consistent with the 2000 and 2014 analyses. Further details of how the AUDIT and SADQ questionnaires were scored are provided in Appendix B of the 2014 publication.

In July 2016 we noticed that the fifth bullet in the Highlights below should have read "by about a quarter" (rather than a fifth) and have corrected this below. Due to the time elapsed since the report was published we are not planning to issue a new version of the report but please be aware of this when using these statistics.

In May 2026 an issue was identified within the Autism chapter of the 2023/4 publication. Autism references were also withdrawn from this publication pending investigation that has now finished and no impact was identified that relates to this publication.

Highlights

 

  • in 2007 nearly one person in four (23.0 per cent) in England had at least one psychiatric disorder and 7.2 per cent had two or more disorders
  • in 2007 5.6 per cent of people aged 16 and over reported having ever attempted suicide but were not successful
  • the proportion of women (aged 16-74) reporting suicidal thoughts in the previous year increased from 4.2 per cent in 2000 to 5.5 per cent in 2007
  • people aged over 75 were included in the survey for the first time in 2007. In this age group, common mental disorders (CMD) were higher in women than men (12.2 per cent of women compared to 6.3 per cent of men)
  • the largest increase in rate of CMD between 1993 and 2007 was observed in women aged 45-64, among whom the rate rose by about a quarter
  • the survey demonstrated a strong association between the presence of a disorder and a low adjusted household income.

Important note

The initial Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS2007) report made reference to Asperger syndrome specifically, rather than Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) generally. However, to be precise and as described in the Autism report Autism Spectrum Disorders in adults living in households throughout England - report from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007, the screening tool used in phase one (the Autism Quotient) and the diagnostic assessment used in phase two (the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) are both designed to pick up on the full range of ASD and were not able to differentiate between subtypes. We apologise if any confusion was caused.

Accessing Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey datasets

The datasets from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey are available from the UK Data Archive via their ESDS website.

  • Note: it takes at least 4 months from publication for the latest datasets to be available.
  • Full details on how to access the resources are available on the UK Data Archive sign up page.

If the data you require is unavailable on the UK Data Archive please contact us at [email protected]

Resources

Related Links

Last edited: 25 August 2026 8:50 am