Weight-loss surgery down 25% as anti-obesity drug use soars - Harvard Gazette

Our study provides one of the first national estimates of the decline in utilization of bariatric metabolic surgery among privately insured patients corresponding to the rising use of blockbuster GLP-1 RA drugs.

Using a national sample of medical insurance claims data from more than 17 million privately insured adults, the researchers identified patients with a diagnosis of obesity without diabetes in 2022-2023.

The study found a sharp increase in the share of patients who received glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs, during the study period, with GLP-1 RA use increasing 132.6 percent.

Among the sample of patients with obesity, 94.7 percent received neither form of treatment during the study period, highlighting the low intervention rate among these patients.

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