Hospital stays of obese doubled in decade
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Hospital stays of obese Americans have doubled within the past decade, according to new federal data.
In fact, hospitalizations of patients considered clinically obese shot up by 112 percent between 1996 and 2004, jumping from 797,000 to 1.7 million patients, said a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Patients who were admitted specifically for obesity treatment represented 126,000 hospital stays at an average cost of $11,700 per stay and mainly had gastric bypass or other weight-loss surgery.
Obese patients admitted to the hospital for other treatments accounted for roughly 1.6 million stays, costing an average of $8,000 per stay, and most of these patients were treated for hardening of the arteries, while others were hospitalized for congestive heart failure, osteoarthritis, skin infections, depression, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.
Obese patients are affected by these conditions at higher rates than non-obese patients, the study authors noted.
Of the patients admitted for these obesity-related conditions, almost three-quarters were over age 45, while 64 percent were women, and about one-third were considered morbidly obese.
Obese related hospital stays doubles 
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