Obesity: Older People
(asked on 7th January 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people over the age of 65 who have (a) obesity and (b) have sought help for obesity.
NHS Digital has provided the data in the following table:
Adults: number estimates for body mass index (BMI) Obese category, aged 65-74 and 75+ (thousands) | ||
Age | Obese | Confidence interval |
65-74 years | 1,857 | +/-161 |
75+ years | 1,073 | +/-135 |
Source: Health Survey for England, NHS Digital
Information is not held centrally on the number of people who have sought help for obesity.
Notes:
- Number estimates based on Office for National Statistics mid-year estimates for the relevant year, adjusted to exclude people living in institutions. Figures are presented to the nearest 1,000. These number estimates are obtained by grossing up the Health Survey for England estimates for the relevant year to the population level.
- The 95% confidence interval is shown. This means that for a given number estimate, there is a 95% chance that the true value lies within the range indicated by the confidence interval. For instance, with a number estimate of 1,000 and a confidence interval of +/-100, the true value is expected to be between 900 and 1,100 in 95 cases out of 100.
- BMI is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. Obesity is categorised as BMI of 30 or more.