The number of recorded hospital admissions related to obesity rose by more than 30 per cent last year, says a report from The NHS Information Centre out today.

The number of admissions related to obesity increased from nearly 8,000 in 2008/09 to nearly 10,600 in 2009/10.

The number of prescription items dispensed in the community in England specifically to combat obesity also increased from 1.28 million in 2008 to 1.45 million in 2009 – a rise of 13 per cent.

Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England 2011 presents a comprehensive picture of obesity in England by combining new analysis on the health outcomes of people who are overweight and obese with a summary of already published diet, exercise and weight-related information.

In its new data, it shows the number of recorded bariatric weight-loss hospital procedures³,⁴ carried out on obese people in England rose by 70 per cent from just over 4,200 in 2008/09 to just over 7,200 in 2009/10.

Hospital coding for bariatric weight-loss procedures was updated in 2009/10, which means it is now possible to identify how many of them were for maintenance of an existing gastric band. Nationally, of the 7,200 bariatric procedures in 2009/10 - 1,400 of these were for maintenance.⁴

Of bariatric weight-loss surgery carried out on obese people (including maintenance of gastric bands in 2009/2010):

• Four fifths (80 per cent) were carried out on women.
• More were carried out in the East Midlands and London Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) for every 100,000 of the population than any other regions.

The report also estimates that the previous upward trend in adult obesity rates may be flattening out. Between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of obese men fell from 24 to 22 per cent, while the percentage of obese women fell from 25 to 24 per cent. The slight fall is not statistically significant and future years' data is needed to see if a downward trend is developing.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This report shows the number of hospital admissions, procedures and prescriptions related to obesity are continuing to increase in England.

“Our hospital data shows hospital admissions in the last financial year topped 10 thousand for the first time, while bariatric procedures passed seven thousand.

“This report brings together different strands of information to show how obesity impacts upon our society, both in the community and in our hospitals, and gives health professionals and policy makers a clearer picture of how this affects the health service and how it is changing over time.”

The report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/opad11

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The NHS IC) is England's authoritative, central, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England, 2011 is a compendium of available data on prevalence of obesity and patterns of physical activity and diet. It includes new data on hospital admissions and prescriptions for obesity.

• Information on hospital admissions and procedures is from The NHS IC's Hospital Episodes Statistics database at www.hesonline.nhs.uk.
• Information on prescribing comes from The NHS IC's Prescription Cost Analysis database: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/presdisp99-09
• Information on the percentage of adults who are obese and at risk of health problems comes from The NHS IC's Health Survey for England. Latest report can be found at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse09report.

3. The term "bariatric surgery" is often used to define a group of procedures that can be performed to facilitate weight loss although these procedures can be performed for conditions other than weight loss. It includes stomach stapling, gastric bypasses and sleeve gastrectomy. Admissions where there is a primary diagnosis of obesity means the main reason the person has been admitted to hospital is due to health problems specifically caused by obesity – such as issues with breathing or organs.

4. Hospital coding for bariatric surgery changed in 2009/10. A new code (G30.5) has been added to show the number of procedures which are specifically for the maintenance of an existing gastric band, which the patient will have had fitted (and coded) as a separate procedure. This means it is now possible to estimate how many procedures are to fit new gastric bands and are how many are to maintain existing ones.

5. As this report includes information from a range of sources, the definition of obesity may vary very slightly. However in general terms obesity is defined by an adult's Body Mass Index (BMI), which is determined using a calculation of the person's weight and height. A Normal weight is seen as a BMI of 18.5- <25kg/m2; Overweight as a BMI of 25-<30kg/m2 and Obesity as a BMI of 30kg/m2 or greater. A BMI cannot be used in the same way for children as this is more complex as age and gender are also considered.

6. Adults within this report refer to people aged 16 and over.

7. Numbers over 1,000 have been rounded to the nearest 100 and numbers between 100 and 1,000 have been rounded to the nearest 10. Prescription item numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.

8. Examples of health problems that overweight people are at risk of developing include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and cancer.

9. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk