COIOS
Healthcare today Item new peer-reviewed

Photo checks put a quarter of surveyed US GLP-1 users on compounded products

In an online US survey of 322 adults reporting at least three months of weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide use, blinded review of photographs of the medication classified 25.8% as using compounded products, and self-report agreed with the photo coding for 82.6% of participants.

Adults recruited through Prolific who reported at least three months of weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide use submitted a photograph of their medication, which two blinded coders classified as a branded formulation or a compounded product. Among 322 participants, self-report and photo coding agreed for 82.6% (kappa 0.78), and 83 (25.8%) were coded as using compounded GLP-1 receptor agonists, two-thirds of whom had named a branded product.

Why it is interesting: It puts a number on the share of GLP-1 users outside claims and prescribing data, and on how far self-report misclassifies them.

Source
Obesity Science & Practice, 22 September 2026
DOI
10.1002/osp4.70200
Type
Peer-reviewed article
Design
Online survey with blinded photo validation of medication, US adults on weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide ≥3 months, n=322 analytic sample
Verdict
New finding
Driver
Obesity, diabetes and GLP-1