Just over 200 people were admitted to hospital as a result of obesity, 39 of them in the west and north west.
The figures, released by the HSE to Newstalk under a Freedom of Information request, showed that almost 60 per cent were male and 26 were children under the age of 16, while 113 were over 45.
According to the HSE, just 37% of Irish people are a normal weight, 37% are considered overweight and the remaining 23% are obese.
“Some of the conditions associated with obesity are well known – like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” Susie Birney, Executive Director for the Irish Coalition for People Living with Obesity, said to Newstalk.
She said that it is important that people who want to lose weight are given plenty of support.
“They will have tried and tested probably everything for their weight over the years.
“If you live with obesity it’s a chronic relapsing disease that unfortunately you have for life.”
