# Lurie Children's study: 90.4% of 1.4 million eligible US teens received neither GLP-1 drugs nor bariatric surgery

- Published: 2026-11-10 12:37 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: adolescent obesity treatment, GLP-1 prescriptions teens, bariatric surgery adolescents, semaglutide adolescents, treatment access disparities, Lurie Children's Hospital, JAMA Pediatrics study, health records analysis
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-ba2de1179eb501f38fdd73e7_lurie_children_s/

**An analysis of health records of 1.4 million US adolescents found GLP-1 prescriptions rose 35-fold in 2017–2025, yet nine in ten eligible teens received no treatment.**

![Lurie Children's study: 90.4% of 1.4 million eligible US teens received neither GLP-1 drugs nor bariatric surgery](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/64588cf0e4c4df84.jpg)
*Asturio Cantabrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0*

Most US adolescents who meet criteria for bariatric surgery receive neither surgery nor GLP-1 medications, according to a study by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago published in JAMA Pediatrics and reported by newswise.com. [1] The authors analysed electronic health records of more than 1.4 million adolescents who met guideline-based eligibility criteria for metabolic and bariatric surgery between 2017 and 2025. [1]

## Surgery and GLP-1 prescribing trends

Bariatric surgery use among eligible adolescents grew steadily from 2017 to 2022 and peaked at 189 procedures per 100,000 eligible teens. [1] After that it fell by about 29 percent through the end of 2025, the authors reported. [1] The decline coincided with the FDA approval of semaglutide for adolescents aged 12 or older with obesity in late 2022. [1]

Over the same period GLP-1 prescribing, including semaglutide and liraglutide, rose sharply: from 301 prescriptions per 100,000 eligible adolescents in early 2017 to 10,676 per 100,000 by the end of 2025, a 35-fold increase. [1] Rates were highest among adolescents with the most severe obesity. [1]

## Treatment gap and insurance differences

Among the 1.4 million eligible adolescents, less than 1 percent underwent surgery during the study period, and 4.6 percent received at least one GLP-1 prescription. [1] By the fourth quarter of 2025, more than 1.29 million of them, or 90.4 percent of the study population, had received neither treatment. [1]

The study also found differences in access to drugs. By late 2025, privately insured adolescents were prescribed GLP-1 drugs 2.4 times more often than uninsured or self-pay patients and modestly more often than publicly insured patients. [1] Surgery rates were similar across insurance groups. [1]

First author John B. Rode, MD, MS, a resident physician at Lurie Children's, said the data suggest that eligible patients likely lack access to safe and effective treatments, and that newer drugs could widen existing inequities in care. [1] The authors call for further research on the reasons for limited access and on the possible complementary role of GLP-1 drugs and surgery. [1] Justin Ryder, PhD, of Lurie Children's and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, was the senior author. [1]

## Sources

1. [newswise.com](https://www.newswise.com/articles/effective-obesity-treatments-reach-few-eligible-teens-study-finds)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-ba2de1179eb501f38fdd73e7_lurie_children_s/