More than 41,000 overweight patients including seven teenagers needed new hips or knees last year, investigation finds

Seven teenage girls aged 15 to 19 had hip replacements due to obesity last year

Joint operations are thought to have cost more than £200million to the NHS

Experts and MPs said statistics should send 'shock waves' and are 'horrifying'

More than 41,000 overweight patients including seven teenage girls needed new hips or knees last year, an investigation has found.


In the past 12 months 25,577 patients had knee replacements and 16,184 had hip operations where obesity was a major factor behind the decision for surgery.

These joint replacement operations cost around £5,000 each and over 40,000 procedures were carried out in 2017-2018, reports the Sunday Times.

Of the thousands having hip replacements last year, seven were for teenage girls aged between 15 and 19.

In the past 12 months 25,577 patients had knee replacements and 16,184, including teenagers, had hip operations where obesity was a major reason for the surgery (file picture)

Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity forum said the fact teenagers were included in the numbers was 'horrifying.'

He said: 'Tragically, more and more adults and children are going to require joint replacements in the years to come.'

Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: 'The fact that even teenage girls have had hip replacements because of obesity should send shock waves through ministers' offices.'

The Sunday Times statistics show the number of patients having replacement surgery's has soared from 6,191 in 2009-10 to 41,761 in 2017-18.

The findings have brought new calls for obesity to be reclassified as a disease.

Obesity is a growing problem in the UK and around the world, with almost half of Britons and one in five people worldwide expected to be extremely fat by 2045.

Research last year also found a quarter of adults don't do enough exercise, with 1.4billion of us leading inactive lives.

The Royal College of Physicians said earlier this week that people shouldn't be blamed for being fat and said it wants obesity recognised as a chronic illness (file picture)

The Royal College of Physicians said earlier this week that people shouldn't be blamed for being fat and said it wants obesity recognised as a chronic illness so very overweight people can receive specialist care.

Professor Goddard said: 'It is governments, not individuals, which can have an impact on the food environment through regulation and taxation, and by controlling availability and affordability.

'Governments can also promote physical activity by ensuring that facilities are available to local communities, and through legislation and public health initiatives.'

The announcement comes just a day after Public Health England revealed English children eat 18 years' worth of sugar before their 10th birthday.

PHE said the average 10-year-old has already consumed 304lbs (138kg) of sugar over their lifetime – more than the maximum recommended amount for an 18-year-old.

Public Health England said they are working with the food industry to make food healthier and have campaigns to try and get families to be more active.


HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP OBESITY Proposed plans to restrict the number of calories in pizzas, pies and ready meals were last year revealed as part of drastic Government moves to try and cut down on obesity. A tax on added sugar in drinks came into force in April, requiring companies to hand over more of the money they make from drinks which contain more than 5g of sugar per 100ml of liquid. As a result, many soft drinks have had their recipes changed in order to avoid paying the tax and putting prices up. Sugary drinks are the biggest single source of sugar for children and teenagers. The Government is also considering making it compulsory for all restaurants and fast food outlets to display the number of calories in each meal on their menu. Some food outlets already do this but there can be unexpected numbers of calories in popular dishes, and the Government is consulting on the plans before a decision is due in spring. In March this year, Public Health England warned Brits to crack down on the number of calories they're eating, advising people to consume no more than 1,600 per day. The watchdog says adults shouldn't eat any more than 400 calories for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 600 for dinner – this would allow for some snacks, experts said. Examples of 600-calorie meals include a tuna pasta salad and a small cereal bar, a chicken salad sandwich and a pack of crisps, or half a pepperoni pizza with a quarter of a garlic baguette and a banana.