Report highlights relationship between obesity and deprivation

The King’s Fund has stressed that rates of obesity in England are high and rising, with a strong systemic relationship between obesity and deprivation.

The report says that the repetitive fragmented approach to tackling obesity undertaken by recent governments has fallen short of the cross-cutting population health approach that is needed. The briefing explores the role of the NHS in tackling obesity, focusing on how the NHS can work with local partners and engage with communities to deliver targeted interventions to treat and prevent obesity.

There has been a significant increase in obesity in the most deprived communities in England in recent years, leading to a widening gap between the most and least deprived areas. The obesity prevalence gap between women from the most and least deprived areas is currently 17 percentage points and for men it is eight percentage points, up from 11 percentage points for women and two percentage points for men in 2014.

For children in Year 6 there was a 13-percentage-point gap in obesity rates between the most and least deprived children in 2019, up by five percentage points since 2006.

Research indicates that people in deprived areas often face significant barriers to accessing affordable, healthy food and to taking regular exercise.

Differences in obesity rates translate to worse health outcomes for people in more deprived areas and contribute to health inequalities. Rates of obesity-related hospital admissions in the most deprived areas of England are 2.4 times greater than in the least deprived areas.

In 2019/20 there were more than 1 million hospital admissions linked to obesity in England, an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year. Rising rates of obesity translate to increasing costs for the NHS. In 2014/15 the NHS spent £6.1 billion on treating obesity-related ill health, this is forecast to rise to £9.7 billion per year by 2050.

Richard Murray, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said: “Our analysis lays bare a deep and widening gap in the rates of obesity between the richest and poorest parts of the country, with women in our most deprived communities faring particularly poorly. Given the serious health risks that come with obesity and the significant cost to the NHS, this is exacerbating shocking inequalities in health and will only add extra pressure on the NHS.

“People in deprived areas can face significant barriers to accessing affordable, healthy food and taking regular exercise and there is much more the NHS can do to support people to make healthier choices and target services where they are needed most. If levelling up is to mean anything, the new secretary of state must put tackling the obesity crisis and reducing health inequalities at the top of his agenda.”