NEW figures confirm that the North-East is the obesity capital of England when it comes to hospital admissions and weight-loss surgery.

Statistics released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show that there were 1,885 hospital admissions for obesity in the North-East during 2012-13.

This far exceeds any other area of England and accounts for more than one in seven of all hospital admissions for obesity in the country.

The North-East also has the highest rate of hospitalisations with 73 per 100,000 residents admitted compared to the English average of just 21 per 100,000.

A total of 1,402 North-East women were admitted during 2012-13 compared to 8,007 for the whole country, which means that about one in seven admissions among female patients for obesity are in our region.

The rate of hospital admissions for obesity among North-East women - which stood at 106 per 100,000 residents in 2012-13 – is way above the England rate of 30 per 100,000.

The North-East also leads the way when it comes to the amount of bariatric, or weight-loss surgery which is performed in the region.

There were 1,018 bariatric procedures in the North-East during 2012-13, compared with 8,024 in England as a whole, which means that roughly one in eight took place in the region.

The rate of bariatric procedures in the North-East was 39 per 100,000 residents compared with 15 per 100,000 for England as a whole.

An overwhelming number of bariatric operations carried out in the region involved female patients. The female rate of bariatric procedures in the North-East was 58 per 100,000 residents compared with 19 per 100,000 residents for men.

This meant 245 North-East men underwent weight-loss surgery in 2012-13 along with 773 women.

In North Yorkshire and York a total of 197 patients were admitted for obesity during 2012-13 giving a rate of 25 per 100,000 residents.

In terms of bariatric procedures, there were 111 in North Yorkshire and York in 2012-13, 28 involved men and 83 involved women.

The overall rate was 14 per 100,000 residents in North Yorkshire with seven per 100,000 for men and 20 per 100,000 for women.

Overall, English hospitals recorded seven per cent fewer admissions with a primary diagnosis of obesity compared to the 12 months but the 2012-13 figure of 10,960 admissions is more than eight times the 2002-03 figure for admissions for obesity.