Teens, Young Adults Taking Weight-Loss Drugs at Record Levels

Adults aren’t the only ones participating in the Wegovy and Ozempic trend. A new study shows the number of young adults and adolescents taking the popular weight-loss drugs jumped nearly 600 percent from 2020 to 2023. These drugs belong to a class called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and have soared in popularity over the past few years. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School and the Yale University School of Medicine, examined data from the IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database to determine the national uptake of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs among adolescents and young adults. The database records prescriptions from 93.6 percent of retail pharmacies in the United States, providing a detailed snapshot of medication usage nationwide. The data show that nearly 31,000 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 and more than 162,000 young adults between 18 and 25 took the drug in 2023....