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Most US adults starting a GLP-1 obesity drug stop within the year

Among 201,229 insured US adults with obesity and no diabetes starting a GLP-1 drug, 30.7% stayed on it for most of the following year, as did 20.3% of paediatric patients.

US commercial claims followed 201,229 adults and 1,139 paediatric patients with obesity and no diabetes for a year after starting a GLP-1 drug. Among adults, 30.7% took the drug on most days across the year, whilst 19.6% stopped straight after starting. Among paediatric patients 20.3% kept taking it, and persistence was higher in the Northeast than the South in both cohorts.

Why it is interesting: A large claims estimate of how long people stay on the GLP-1 drugs in routine practice.

Source
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 17 September 2026
Paper
Real-World Adherence Trajectories of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Among Adults and Paediatric Patients With Obesity
Authors
Huang W, Kotecha P, Kimmel SE, Segal R, Gonzalvo JD, Pecoski AM et al.
DOI
10.1111/dom.71299
Type
Peer-reviewed article
Design
Retrospective cohort of US commercial claims (MarketScan 2021-2023), 201,229 adults and 1,139 patients aged 10-17 with obesity and no diabetes, group-based trajectory modelling of 12-month proportion of days covered
Verdict
Confirms prior evidence
Driver
Adherence and persistence
Driver
Obesity, diabetes and GLP-1
Free full text
Free to read at the publisher

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