GLP-1 Drug Prescribing Trends Mirror Rise in US Obesity Rates
Obesity treatment evolves as GLP-1 medication use surges 587%, while bariatric surgery rates decline significantly. A new analysis parses the trends.
The Study: Analysis of 51+ billion commercial healthcare claims between 2019-2024
Obesity Dx Rising: 50.7% increase in diagnoses of adults with overweight/obesity, including a 70.9% increase in proportion of adults with morbid obesity between 2019-2024.
GLP-1 Rx Revolution: A 586.7% increase in the proportion of adults with overweight/obesity who were prescribed a GLP-1 was seen between 2019 and 2024.
Shifting GLP-1 Rx Patterns: There was a 20.6% decrease in proportion of adults prescribed a GLP-1 who only had T2D between 2019 and 2024 but there was a 344.4% increase in proportion of adults prescribed GLP-1 who had overweight/obesity but not T2D
Emerging Safety Signals: The analysis found an 80% increase in Dx of pancreatitis from year before a GLP-1 Rx to year after the Rx in adults without T2D.
GLP-1 Rx vs Surgical Options: Analysis revealed a 339.5% increase in percentage of adults with overweight/obesity prescribed GLP-1 without bariatric surgery between 2019 and 2024.
Wide, Persistent Treatment Gap: More than 80% of adults with Dx of overweight/obesity received no intervention during study period, 2019-2024
Decline in Comprehensive Care for Overweight/Obesity: There was a 73.7% decrease found in use of behavioral health services among adults with overweight/ obesity prescribed GLP-1 drugs (47.2% to 12.4%)
Click here for the full FAIR Health White Paper: Obesity and GLP-1 Drugs: A Claims-Based Analysis. May 27, 2025.
The landscape of obesity treatment has undergone a dramatic transformation. New data from FAIR Health reveals that over 2% of adult patients now take glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications to treat overweight or obesity—representing a 587% increase since 2019. This surge in GLP-1 prescriptions coincides with a notable decline in bariatric surgery rates, which dropped 42% over the same period.
Drawing from the nation's largest commercial healthcare claims database—over 51 billion records—FAIR Health's recent white paper examines how glucagon-like GLP-1 receptor agonists are reshaping obesity care. The analysis tracks prescription trends, treatment patterns, and demographic shifts among adults from 2019 to 2024.
The short slide show above summarizes key data that will be of interest to primary care clinicians.
