Hospitals in England had to deal with more than one million admissions where obesity was a factor in 2019-20, newly published figures reveal.

The 1.02 million recorded admissions involving obesity as a primary or secondary diagnosis represented a 17 per cent increase on 2018-19 figures, with women making up two-thirds of cases.

However, the number of admissions where obesity was recorded as the main cause dropped from 11,117 in 2018-19 to 10,780.

There were 6,740 finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of obesity and a main or secondary procedure of bariatric surgery – a four per cent drop compared to 2018-19. In 2019-20, women made up 80 per cent of patients who underwent bariatric surgery.

The number of prescribed items in primary care for obesity fell by 17 per cent in 2020 to 294,000 items compared with 355,000 items in 2019 while the net ingredient cost of prescribed drugs dropped by 16 per cent last year to £8.8 million.

The data also revealed that 27 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women were obese, with two-thirds of adults overweight or obese.

Children living in the most deprived parts of the country were more than twice as likely to be obese than those in the least deprived parts.