Obesity

Obesity has now been acknowledged to be one of the most serious public health problems facing the UK.  From an economic perspective, predictions are for sharp rises in the cost to the taxpayer for treating obesity and related chronic illness.  People who are obese die on average nine years earlier than those of normal weight.  It is estimated that approximately 21% of the Kent adult population is obese.

Some of the reports on this page may not be suitable for users for assistive technology. Request an accessible format .

Our resources

Our resources

Data and reports

Information on childhood and adult obesity rates can be found in the 'starting well' and 'living well' sections of our Health and Social Care Maps.

We have produced an obesity health needs assessment (PDF, 5.8 MB), and a childhood weight health needs assessment for Kent.

The following analysis is of local childhood weight data gathered through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP):

We have produced literature reviews that examine evidence for engaging with minority groups in weight management programmes, and examining the relationship between weight and unemployment.

We have also produced an analysis of the overlap between obesity, alcohol and smoking (PDF, 636.3 KB).

Additionally we have analysed uptake of the 2016 Change4Life local campaign (PDF, 908.9 KB) and the 2016 Change4Life Sugar Smart campaign (PDF, 1.1 MB) in Kent.

Also, we have analysed the adult lifestyle weight management and family weight management (Tier 2) programmes commissioned by Kent County Council.


Library services

The Public Health and Social Care Library can provide access to library and knowledge services, including books and journal articles relating to obesity and healthy weight. We can also produce bespoke literature searches.

Please contact the public health specialist librarian: emma.ramstead@nhs.net


Requests

If you can't find what you were looking for,  we complete over 200 ad-hoc requests for analysis each year. Request further analysis or a literature search or contact us.
External resources

External resources

A number of organisations produce statistics relating to obesity and its impact on health, both at national and local level.