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GLP-1 prescriptions for kids up more than 30,000% since 2019
NewsNation • • health
Key Points:
- Use of GLP-1 medications in children aged 8 to 11 has surged by nearly 31,000% over seven years, according to an NYU Langone Health study analyzing over 3.5 million children with obesity but without diabetes.
- Although the FDA has not approved GLP-1 drugs for children under 12, doctors have increasingly prescribed them off-label, especially for kids with obesity-related conditions like high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
- The proportion of children in this age group prescribed GLP-1s rose from 0.03% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2026, representing a 310-fold increase, yet only 0.6% of the total study population received such prescriptions during the entire period.
- Study lead Dr. Babak J. Orandi emphasized that despite rapid uptake, the absolute number of children treated remains very small relative to those eligible, and he expressed greater concern about addressing the root causes of childhood obesity, which affects about 20% of American kids.
