More than Half of US Adults Eligible for Semaglutide: Daily Dose

Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On November 21, 2024, we reported on a study published in JAMA Cardiology that was designed to quantify the number of US adults eligible for semaglutide treatment.

The study

Researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2015 to early 2020 to identify adults judged eligible for semaglutide (based on inclusion/exclusion criteria from pivotal randomized clinical trials) across 3 indications:

• Diabetes (self-report of diabetes diagnosis, HbA_1c ≥7.0%, or preexisting use of diabetes therapies)

• Weight management (obesity, BMI 30 kg/m² or greater or overweight, BMI 27 kg/m² or greater with one weight-related comorbidity)

• Secondary CVD prevention (aged 45 or older, BMI 27 kg/m² or greater, history of MI or stroke)

The findings

Among 25 531 (unweighted) survey participants, 8504 individuals were eligible for semaglutide, representing an estimated 136.8 million US adults. This exceeds the number of adults eligible for statin drugs (approximately 82 million), which are currently the most prescribed pharmaceuticals among US adults.

By indication, the research team estimated eligible adults as follows:

• Weight management: 129.2 million

• Diabetes management: 35 million

• Secondary CVD prevention: 8.9 million

Authors' comment

"The large number of US adults eligible for semaglutide highlights its potential impact on pharmaceutical spending and population health. Moreover, since more than half of US adults who have taken GLP-1 receptor agonists state the therapy was difficult to afford, interventions to reduce economic barriers to access are urgently needed."

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