2018 to 2022 Saw Increase in GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Use in Adults Without Diabetes

THURSDAY, April 10, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Among U.S. adults without diabetes, the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) increased from 2018 to 2022, reaching annual prevalence of 0.4 percent in 2022, according to a study published online April 1 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Cade Shadbolt, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues examined data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component from 2018 to 2022 to examine GLP-1 RA use and expenditure among U.S adults without diabetes.

The researchers found that the pooled annual prevalence of GLP-1 RA use was 0.1 percent in the unweighted sample of 89,854 U.S. adults without diabetes from 2018 to 2021. The annual prevalence increased to 0.4 percent by 2022, with an estimated 854,728 adults without diabetes using GLP-1 RAs. The annual expenditure on GLP-1 RAs increased from $1.6 billion between 2018 and 2021 to $5.8 billion in 2022 among adults without diabetes. The mean number of prescriptions per user was 4.1 from 2018 to 2022, with a mean expenditure of $1,540.00 and mean out-of-pocket costs of $34.68 per prescription.

“The number of U.S. adults without diabetes using GLP-1 RAs increased more than threefold between 2018 and 2022, leading to $5.8 billion in direct spending by 2022,” the authors write. “Despite this, adoption remained limited, as only one in 250 U.S. adults without diabetes used a GLP-1 RA in 2022.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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