John Simon, a teenager who had a bariatric surgery in 2022, walks along the hallway of his school in Los Angeles, Monday, March 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
American adolescents are increasingly prescribing a Wegovy drug for weight loss, since more and more families and doctors tend to trust this drug for young people suffering from obesity.
According to Reuters, last year the average indicator of the number of adolescents starting with this drug increased by 50% to the level of 14.8 recipes for every 100 thousand teenagers.
For comparison, in 2023 – in the first year, when Wegovy became available for children aged 12 years and older, having indications for its use, this indicator was 9.9 recipes for every 100 thousand adolescents. In the first three months of 2025, the spread of Wegovy for the treatment of obesity in adolescents continued to grow, reaching 17.3 new recipes per 100 thousand teenagers.
For its analysis, Truveta studied electronic medical records of 1.3 million patients in the United States aged 12 to 17 years. The analysis did not include other GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and Zepbound, since they were still approved for the treatment of obesity in adolescents.
About eight million teenagers in the USA, or 23% of people aged 12 to 19 years, suffer from obesity – compared with 5% in 1980. Obesity at a young age significantly increases the risk of chronic and reducing states, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and liver disease.
Nevertheless, not all doctors agree to prescribe GLP-1 preparations to their teenage patients, since the long-term safety of these drugs for children during sexual development is unknown, and treatment may require unlimited. In addition, insurance plans in the United States often do not cover any treatment of obesity.
