Over a million Britons admitted to hospital for obesity

The figures, published by NHS Digital, show a 17% increase in hospital admissions where obesity was a factor

PRETORIA, May 18 (ANA) – There were more than a million hospital admissions for obesity-related treatment in England in the year leading into the global pandemic, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

The British broadcaster said the record number provides the clearest indication of the scale of the obesity problem as coronavirus started to spread across the United Kingdom.

The figures, published by the National Health Service (NHS) Digital, show a 17 percent increase in hospital admissions where obesity was a factor, compared with the year before, the BBC added.

Women accounted for 64 percent of admissions where obesity was a factor.

NHS said It’s a common problem in the UK that’s estimated to affect around one in every four adults and around one in every five children aged 10 to 11.

In 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight, of these over 650 million were obese.

WHO said most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.

Thirty-eight million children under the age of five were overweight or obese in 2019.

Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.

“Overweight and obesity are linked to more deaths worldwide than underweight. Globally there are more people who are obese than underweight – this occurs in every region except parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia,” WHO said in its report.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay