---
title: "Weight-Loss Drug Use Hits a Record High in the US, Survey Finds"
description: "About one in eight American adults now say they are taking a GLP-1 drug such as Ozempic or Wegovy, a record share, according to new polling. Cheaper compounded versions and online prescribing have widened access, even as cost, side effects and safety questions remain."
category: "Science"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/science
author: "Jasmine Howard"
published: 2026-07-08T01:26:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-08T01:26:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/weight-loss-drug-use-hits-a-record-high-in-the-us-survey-finds
tags: ["glp-1", "ozempic", "health", "obesity", "diabetes"]
---
# Weight-Loss Drug Use Hits a Record High in the US, Survey Finds

About one in eight American adults now say they are taking a GLP-1 drug such as Ozempic or Wegovy, a record share, according to new polling. Cheaper compounded versions and online prescribing have widened access, even as cost, side effects and safety questions remain.

The wave of interest in GLP-1 medicines, the injectable drugs used for weight loss and diabetes, has pushed their use in the United States to a new high. About 12 percent of American adults now say they are currently taking such a drug, according to a recent survey, roughly double the share of a year and a half earlier.

## The numbers

The figure comes from polling by KFF, a health-research organization, whose late-2025 survey found around 12 percent of adults currently using a GLP-1 drug, up from about 6 percent in the spring of 2024, with close to one in five saying they had used one at some point, [KFF reported](https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/poll-1-in-8-adults-say-they-are-currently-taking-a-glp-1-drug-for-weight-loss-diabetes-or-another-condition-even-as-half-say-the-drugs-are-difficult-to-afford/). Use is far higher among people with diabetes: federal health data found that more than a quarter of adults with diagnosed diabetes were using GLP-1 injectables, [according to the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db537.htm). People take the drugs for different reasons, some primarily for diabetes or heart conditions, some for weight loss, and many for both.

## Why access has grown

Part of the increase reflects how much easier the drugs have become to get. Telehealth companies now prescribe them online and mail them out, and compounding pharmacies have offered cheaper, made-to-order versions, so a meaningful share of users have taken a compounded rather than a branded product, [KFF Health News reported](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/glp1-weight-loss-drugs-telehealth-oversight-regulation-compounded-semaglutide/). That has opened the door to people who might not otherwise have started, but it has also moved prescribing away from the traditional doctor's office.

## The catches

The boom comes with real caveats. Cost is a persistent barrier: a large majority of users in the KFF survey said the drugs were hard to afford, and a notable share had stopped taking them because of the price, with brand-name versions long carrying list prices above a thousand dollars a month. There are safety concerns too. Reports of medication errors involving the drugs have risen sharply as use has spread, often involving dosing mistakes, and compounded versions sit outside the usual regulatory review. Common side effects include nausea and vomiting, though serious harm remains uncommon.

## What it signals

Taken together, the figures capture how quickly these medicines have moved from novelty to something a sizeable slice of the population uses. With cheaper options and pills in the pipeline, use may climb further still. The open questions are less about demand than about the system around it: whether it can keep the drugs affordable, prescribe them safely across a patchwork of clinics, telehealth sites and compounders, and manage the risks that come with a medicine now in tens of millions of medicine cabinets.

## Sources

- [Poll: 1 in 8 adults say they are currently taking a GLP-1 drug](https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/poll-1-in-8-adults-say-they-are-currently-taking-a-glp-1-drug-for-weight-loss-diabetes-or-another-condition-even-as-half-say-the-drugs-are-difficult-to-afford/)
- [GLP-1 injectable use among adults with diagnosed type 2 diabetes](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db537.htm)
- [Telehealth booms as demand for GLP-1s surges](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/glp1-weight-loss-drugs-telehealth-oversight-regulation-compounded-semaglutide/)