The number of obese people in England undergoing surgery in NHS hospitals to help them lose weight has increased ten-fold since 2000, according to a study published Friday.
Weight-loss procedures rose from 238 in 2000 to 2,543 in 2007, while between April 2000 and March 2008 6,953 operations took place, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported.
Researchers from Imperial College London put the rapid rise rise down to an increase in awareness of so-called "bariatric surgery".
"Bariatric surgery has increased exponentially in England in recent years," the report said.
"In conjunction with the growing level of obesity, as patients become more aware of surgery as a viable treatment option, demand for surgery among morbidly obese patients increases."
The surgery promotes weight loss either by decreasing the size of the stomach with a surgical band, re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch, or removing a portion of the stomach.
It is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for cases of "morbid obesity" where other treatments have failed.
The procedure has been shown to reduce the risk of death, hospital admission, and long term cost to the health service.
"Very extreme obesity is associated with all sorts of other illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease," Paul Aylin of Imperial College, who wrote the BMJ report, told the BBC Today Programme.
"Evidence is emerging now that these sorts of operations can reduce those other illnesses."
Copyright 2010 AFP European Edition
