A study from Michigan Medicine using 2020-2023 data found a significant increase in the use of weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic among adolescents and young adults in the U.S., particularly among females.
Concerns include the rising off-label use of these drugs and their long-term impacts on youth. Public interest in weight loss medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic is rapidly increasing, yet there is a surprising lack of national data on their dispensing patterns in the United States. Now, a national study from Michigan Medicine shows that the use of these weight loss drugs is increasing rapidly in adolescents and young adults 12-25 years, especially females.
Using 2020 – 2023 data from a national database representing 92% of pharmacies, the study team found a 594% increase in the monthly number of adolescents and young adults using Wegovy, Ozempic, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs). For females, this increase was even more pronounced. The number of female adolescents 12-17 years using GLP-1RAs increased by 588%, compared with 504% for male adolescents.
The number of female young adults 18-25 years using GLP-1 RAs increased by 659%, compared with 481% for male young adults. Study Findings and Drug Approvals “This is the first study to document national trends in GLP-1RA dispensing in any population, including youth, said Joyce Lee, MD, MPH, the lead author of the paper. Lee is a pediatric endocrinologist and Professor of Pediatrics i.
