HSCIC data on obesity are compiled from a variety of sources which give insight into the trends in obesity in adults and children in England. The data also provide information on prescriptions for treating obesity, trends in purchases and consumption of food and drink, and health outcomes of being overweight or obese.
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) also provide data on obesity-related admissions and bariatric procedures for treating obesity.
Key facts for England
The latest data for England shows:
- In 2013, about one in four of the adult population was obese (26 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women).
- More than twice as many females (6,746) were admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of obesity than men (2,578) in 2013-14, and this continues a ten-year trend.
- In 2013-14, admissions for those aged 75 years and over (123) increased by 24 per cent. Obesity-related admissions in all other age groups fell.
- In 2013-14 more than one in five children in Reception and one in three children in Year 6 were measured as obese or overweight.
- In 2013-14 one in four children in Year 6 who lived in the most deprived areas of England were obese compared to one in eight who lived in the least deprived areas.
- Women accounted for over three times as many bariatric surgery procedures (4,823) compared to men (1,560) in 2013-14, and this continues a ten-year trend.
- The number of prescription items dispensed for treating obesity in 2013 (563,000) rose by 44 per cent from 2012 (392,000).This still represents a decrease of 61 per cent from 2009 (1,450,000), when the number of prescription items dispensed for treating obesity reached a peak. This pattern is likely to have been affected by a stock shortage of the drug Orlistat in 2012.
- In 2013, Orlistat accounted for almost all prescription items dispensed for the treatment of obesity, at a net ingredient cost of £19.7 million.