THERE are now more hospital admissions than ever before due to obesity, according to a new report.
There were 440,288 admissions to England's hospitals in 2014/15 where obesity was the main reason for a person being admitted or was a secondary factor.
The figure is the highest on record and is more than 10 times higher than the 40,741 recorded in 2004/5.
Of the 440,288 admissions, 3,357 were for children aged under 16 (compared with just 1,506 in 2004/05).
A further 28,321 admissions were for those aged 16 to 24 and 71,483 were for those in the 25 to 34 age group.
Overall, 149,490 admissions were for men and 290,747 were for women.
Hertfordshire County Council had the most admissions for obesity by region (11,722), followed by Cornwall (11,493) and Lancashire (11,245).
The report, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), also showed that the proportion of adults now regarded as morbidly obese is growing.
Those who have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more has more than tripled since 1993, affecting 2% of men and 4% of women in 2014.
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