Weight management: obesity register

  • NICE indicator
  • IND238
  • Published:
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Indicator

The contractor establishes and maintains a register of patients aged 18 or over with a BMI of 27.5 kg/m2 or more (or 30 kg/m2 or more if ethnicity is recorded as White) in the preceding 12 months.

Indicator type

General practice indicator suitable for use in the Quality and Outcomes Framework.

This document does not represent formal NICE guidance. For a full list of NICE indicators, see our menu of indicators.

To find out how to use indicators and how we develop them, see our NICE indicator process guide.

Rationale

This indicator establishes a register of people who are obese with the aim of increasing identification and facilitating subsequent intervention.

NICE's guideline on obesity recommends using BMI as a practical estimate of adiposity in adults. Recording waist circumference may also be useful in addition to BMI in people with a BMI of less than 35 kg/m2.

Obesity and poor diet are linked with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and increased risk of respiratory, musculoskeletal and liver diseases. Obese people are also at increased risk of certain cancers, including being three times more likely to develop colon cancer.

Using the lower threshold of 27.5 kg/m2 or more unless ethnicity is specifically recorded as White will help ensure that people are not excluded from the register inappropriately because ethnicity was not recorded.

Source guidance

Obesity: identification, assessment and management. NICE guideline CG189 (2014, updated 2022), recommendations 1.2.4, 1.2.7 and 1.2.8

Specification

A register of people with a BMI of 27.5 kg/m2 or more (or 30 kg/m2 or more if ethnicity is recorded as White).

Exclusions: Children under 18 years.

Minimum population: The indicator would be appropriate at individual general practice level. To be classified as suitable for use in QOF, there should be an average minimum population of more than 20 patients per practice. QOF data for 2020/21 indicates that around 540 patients are recorded as obese each year in an average practice with 10,000 patients (using ONS population statistics).

ISBN: 978-1-4731-5924-2