The variety of U.S. adults which can be conscious of GLP-1 medication used for weight reduction, akin to Ozempic and Wegovy, has jumped considerably in the previous few years, a brand new survey exhibits.
The YouGov ballot, launched Friday, exhibits that at the least 80 % of respondents have heard at the least “a little bit” about semaglutide, a medicine used to deal with Sort 2 diabetes that additionally helps a person to shed weight.
In March 2023, solely 60 % of People had been conscious of the drug. A 12 months later, in March 2024, that quantity had jumped to 70 %, the pollster famous. The most recent survey additionally exhibits that the share of those that have heard “a lot” concerning the treatment has practically doubled since 2023, rising to 41 % from 23 %.
Simply 36 % of respondents say they know somebody who has taken semaglutide. Round 14 % listed a member of the family took the medication, 16 % named a pal, 11 % recognized an acquaintance and seven % mentioned that they had taken it themselves, in response to the ballot. A number of additionally famous they knew a person in multiple class.
Ladies are extra seemingly than males, 43 % to 29 %, to know somebody — together with themselves — who has taken a GLP-1 agonist drug, per the survey.
The burden loss medicines — together with Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and others — have been out there since 2005 however have solely prior to now few years been used to deal with weight problems. The medication work by mimicking a hormone within the physique — glucagon-like peptide-1 — that stimulates insulin secretion and reduces urge for food.
Doable uncomfortable side effects of taking the treatment embrace nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation.
Whereas semaglutide is at present solely prescribed for weight reduction or treating diabetes, early analysis is pointing to doable advantages for a number of different points, together with remedy for dependancy, neurodegenerative illnesses and situations that have an effect on the guts, kidney or liver.
The most recent survey discovered that roughly 1 / 4 of respondents mentioned they’d be “very” or “somewhat” concerned with taking the treatment as a weight reduction remedy.
A few third of People have both taken the drug or mentioned they’d be concerned with making an attempt it. On the opposite aspect, about 17 % mentioned they had been “not very” within the treatment and 45 % signaled they had been under no circumstances .
A separate ballot from final September discovered that round 1 / 4 of adults within the U.S. would think about using weight reduction medicines with out consulting their physician.
The YouGov evaluation is predicated on a web-based survey performed from Could 22-25 amongst 1,109 adults within the U.S. The margin of error for the total pattern is 4 share factors.
