Four out of five obesity surgery patients are women. That's one of the less trumpeted figures in the first ever UK report by the National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR).

Surgeons say the figures in the report provide evidence that obesity surgery is 'one of the most clinically effective, safe and cost effective treatments available to the NHS'. Data from 86 hospitals including private ones show that, by the time they reach surgery, around two thirds of severely obese patients (those with a body mass index of 50+) will have three or more associated diseases. Almost three quarters of patients have limited function – are unable to climb 3 flights of stairs without resting; a third have high blood pressure; over a quarter have diabetes; nearly a fifth have high cholesterol and one sixth suffer from sleep apnoea. Of patients with a 12 month follow up, figures show that as well as losing on, average, 57.8% of excess weight, improvement is recorded in all associated disease.

The NBSR say the report also demonstrates that obesity surgery is being introduced into the UK safely. 'An in-hospital mortality rate of just 0.1%, compares favourably with other forms of established surgery and equals the best published international data for bariatric surgery.'