Obesity-related admissions rise by 18 per cent

New NHS Digital data has revealed that there were 617,000 admissions to NHS hospitals last year where obesity was recorded as either a primary or secondary diagnosis.

Of the 18 per cent increase on 2015/16, 10,705 admissions had obesity recorded as the main cause, an increase on 9,929 admissions on the previous year. Furthermore, the new figures from the Hospital Episodes Statistics dataset in NHS Digital’s report show that 66 per cent of the admissions where obesity was recorded as either a primary or secondary diagnosis were for women, while there were 6,760 Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) for bariatric surgery in 2016/17, a five per cent increase on 2015/16. Of these, 77 per cent of the patients were female.

Examining national levels of physical activity and diet trends, the data shows that 21 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women were classed as inactive in 2016, while the proportion of children meeting government physical activity guidelines rose from 21 per cent in 2012 to 23 per cent in 2015 for boys, and from 16 per cent in 2012 to 20 per cent in 2015 for girls.

Of concern, the prevalence of obesity almost doubles for women in the most deprived areas of the UK (38 per cent) compared to the least deprived areas (20 per cent). The prevalence variation was not evident in men.