Incidence of obesity in hospitalised patients 1933-1972 (author's transl)

Analysis of 31 686 patient records for obesity among hospitalised patients in the Second Medical Clinic of Düsseldorf University between 1952 and 1972 demonstrated a steep rise to a plateau of 24 +/- 2% in 1956-1972. Adding a corresponding analysis from the Bonn Medical University Clinic some 66 000 hospitalised patients could be included for a period of 40 years. Socio-economic conditions in the war and post-war period produced a marked fall in obesity to a minimum of 2% in 1946. The mean incidence before 1935 was 10%, by 1958 it had increased two-and-a-half fold. It is thought that this had been due not to a corresponding higher calorie intake by the population but rather a general reduction in physical activity. The increase in obesity among the population, reflected in these hospital statistics, is likely to lead to a parallel increase in cardiovascular risk factors and with it the ever-rising curve of death from cardiovascular disease in the Federal Republic of Germany.