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Over 6,000 severely obese young people and children have received treatment at obesity clinics in England since 2021, including hundreds as young as four years old who were given weight loss jabs, according to NHS figures. 

In the five years since Complications from Excess Weight (CEW) clinics were set up, 6,497 patients received treatment, including 423 four-year-olds.

Over a thousand children were aged between five and eight, 1,791 between nine and 12 and 3,137 were 13 to 17, while the ages of 58 children were unknown.

CEWs only accept children who have a body mass index above the 99.6 percentile and been referred by a community paediatrician or GP. The four-year-olds who were treated weighed an average of 33kg or 5st 2lbs, normally the weight of a 10-year-old.

There are currently 37 clinics whose multidisciplinary teams are linked to a specialist children’s hospital.

An analysis of 5,699 children and young people registered at a CEW clinic between January 2021 and October 2025, conducted by researchers at Leeds Beckett University, University of Leeds, University of Bristol and Sheffield Hallam University, was presented at the 33rd European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.

The analysis found the most prevalent complications were metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes.

Of 3,800 patients assessed, autism spectrum disorder, learning disability, attention deficit disorder, anxiety and deliberate self-harm were common.

“Clinics are reaching individuals with highly complex medical and neurodevelopmental complications/comorbidities, many of which may be preventable or modifiable through weight loss or early intervention,” the study said.

Obesity Health Alliance executive director Katharine Jenner said the research highlighted the importance of prevention in the health system.

“These figures should be a wake-up call,” she said. “All parents want their children to grow up healthy yet seeing children as young as four needing specialist NHS treatment for their weight highlights just how early the drivers of poor health are taking hold.

“Children today are growing up surrounded by unhealthy food at almost every turn, leaving families struggling against a system that stacks the odds against healthier options.

“The fact that some children are already developing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and early signs of heart disease at such a young age underlines why prevention has to begin in the earliest years of life.

“Healthier food should be easier, cheaper and more available for everyone, no matter where they live.”

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