November 1, 2024 – A recent increase in the use of GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity is associated with a decline of bariatric—or weight-loss—surgeries, according to a study led by Thomas Tsai, assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, was featured in an Oct. 25 STAT News article.
In the study, researchers analyzed health insurance data from over 17 million people in the U.S. They found that between 2022 and 2023, prescriptions of GLP-1 medications for obesity patients more than doubled, while the rate of bariatric surgery decreased by 25.6%.
“Right now there’s just a high degree of uncertainty for what this all means in terms of bariatric surgery volume in the long-term,” Tsai said. “But for patients, with all the different treatment options that now exist, this truly is a golden age. The challenge for the next few years is making sure patients are able to access them.”
Read the study: Metabolic Bariatric Surgery in the Era of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists for Obesity Management
Read the STAT News article: In the era of GLP-1 drugs, demand for bariatric surgery plunges
– Jay Lau
Photo: iStock/Carolina Rudah