Weight-loss stomach surgery on obese people increases 40 per cent in a year

The amount of ‘bariatric surgery' the NHS carries out on obese people to help them lose weight increased 40 per cent in 2007/08, according to a report from The NHS Information Centre today.

Overall hospital admissions for obesity also increased, reaching 5,018 in 2007/08, a 30 per cent increase on 2006/07 and almost a seven-fold increase on 1996/97.

In 2007/08, people with a primary diagnosis of obesity had 2,724 hospital episodes involving ‘bariatric surgery' (a range of procedures carried out on the stomach which can help weight-loss and which include stomach stapling, gastric bypasses and sleeve gastrectomy).

This was 40 per cent up on 2006/07 when 1,951 such episodes involving people with a primary diagnosis of obesity took place.The number of episodes is small in the context of the proportion of obese people in the population.

The number of NHS prescription items dispensed to treat obesity increased to 1.23 million in 2007 – a rise of 16 per cent from 2006. The two drugs most commonly prescribed for weight-loss purposes in the NHS are Sibutramine and Orlistat. Sibutramine alters chemical messages to the brain that control feelings and thoughts about food, while the other, Orlistat, prevents some fat absorption in the intestine.

Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England, February 2009 highlights the prevalence of obesity among adults and children and the demands this is placing on NHS services. The report also charts changing patterns of physical activity and diet.

The report also shows that in England in 2007:

  • 24 per cent of adults were classed as obese – BMI of 30 kg/m˛ or over.
  • Men and women were equally likely to be obese, with the percentage of women classed as obese increasing from 16 per cent in 1993 and of men from 13 per cent in 1993.
  • 17 per cent of boys and 16 per cent of girls aged two to 15 were classed as obese, increasing from 11 per cent and 12 per cent respectively in 1995.

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “The report highlights the scale of the country's obesity problem and shows increasing NHS treatment using weight-loss surgery and medications. “Obesity can pose major health risks by potentially increasing the likelihood of such diseases as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, and a range of other, often life-threatening, conditions.

“The report shows that since 1997 a greater proportion of adults are meeting Government guidelines for the amount of physical activity they should be doing to stay healthy and since 2001 a greater proportion of both adults and children are eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

“Obesity increases the risk of health problems for many millions of people and our report shows measures such as weight-loss surgery and medication are being used increasingly.” The report is at pubs/opad08

Notes to editors

  1. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The 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, February 2009 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.
  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.
  4. Due to differences in growth rates, it is not possible to apply a universal formula in calculating the levels of obese and overweight children. The UK National BMI percentile classification is therefore used which gives a BMI threshold for each age above which a child is considered overweight or obese. The thresholds are calculated using the 1990 BMI reference data. The overweight threshold is the 85th percentile of the data set. The obese threshold is the 95th percentile of the data set. Therefore those children within the 85th to 95th percentile are classified as overweight and those above the 95th percentile are classified as obese. The percentiles are given for each gender and age.
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