THERE were more than a million hospital admissions for obesity-related treatment in England in the year leading into the global pandemic, figures reveal.
The record number provides the clearest indication yet of the scale of the obesity problem as coronavirus started to spread across the UK.
Being overweight is one of the most significant risk factors for severe Covid.
Experts say the data should be a wake-up call for tackling obesity.
The figures, published by NHS Digital, show a 17% increase in hospital admissions where obesity was a factor, compared with the year before.
This amounts to almost 150,000 more instances of people being admitted to hospital over the course of a year.
The number of admissions where obesity was recorded as the main cause actually fell to 10,780 last year, from 11,117 in 2018-19.
But this is mainly due to a fall in the number of bariatric surgeries (including gastric bands and bypasses) being performed.
Women accounted for two-thirds (64%) of admissions where obesity was a factor.
NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Today’s shocking figures are a growing sign of the nation’s obesity crisis which is putting hundreds of thousands of people at greater risk of becoming severely ill with Covid, as well as heart attacks, stroke, cancer and other deadly diseases”.