One in 20 people in England have been 'aggressively harmed' by a drunk person over the past year, research suggests.
A study found 4.6 per cent of 5,000 people surveyed reported being hurt, 'sexually forced' or physically threatened as a result of someone else's drinking.
And one in five claimed to have endured 'minor harms' over the past 12 months, according to the largest poll of its kind.
Minor harms included being kept awake, made to feel uncomfortable at social gathering or forced to call the police due to someone else's inebriation.
Researchers warn the harmful effects of alcohol are 'prevalent' and even 'trivial' disturbances can impact our 'health and quality of life' over time.
One in 20 have been 'aggressively harmed' by a drunk person over the past year (stock)
The research was carried out by Public Health England and led by Dr Caryl Beynon, of the risk factors intelligence team.
'This is the largest ever survey of [alcohol-related harms to others] conducted within the UK, and the first national study in England,' the researchers wrote in the journal BMJ Open.
'It is clear [alcohol-related harm to others] is relatively prevalent and some individuals experience harm frequently.
'The most prevalent harms could be considered insignificant, but even apparently minor harms such as sleep disruption can have an impact on health and quality of life, particularly if experienced persistently.'
The damaging effects of alcohol are well known, with excess drinking being responsible for six per cent of deaths in 2012, the researchers wrote.
Studies into alcohol's dangers have been almost entirely focused on the drinker, with less attention being paid to how it affects their loved ones, colleagues or society as a whole.
But in just over half of all violent crimes, the victim perceives the offender as being under the influence of alcohol, statistics show. And nearly 10,000 alcohol-related road traffic accidents took place between 2013 and 2015.
The World Health Organization's global alcohol strategy highlights the need to investigate how liquor impacts people aside from the drinker.
These effects have been investigated in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, however, this is the first time it has been studied in England.
The researchers looked at three months' worth of data collected via the Alcohol Toolkit Survey, which gets sent to different households across the UK every month.
Some 4,874 survey responders were asked 18 questions on whether they had been negatively affected by someone else's drinking in the past year.
This included whether they had been involved in a serious, but non-violent, argument; put at risk in a car; or been let down by someone they were counting on.
They were also asked who was responsible for the incidents, such as a partner, housemate or stranger, and how often they occurred.
Graph shows the percentage of people who have come to harm, such as being kept awake or physically threatened, over the past year in England as a result of someone else's drinking
Results revealed the most commonly reported harm was being kept awake (eight per cent), followed by feeling anxious or uncomfortable at a social event (nearly seven per cent).
When it came to being sexually forced or pressured, a victim's
