In 2023, the United States saw a slight decrease in obesity prevalence among adults, according to a new research letter describing body mass index (BMI) data from 2013 to 2023 in JAMA Health Forum. In spite of conflicting trends forecasting increasing obesity rates (ie, BMI equal to or greater than 30) over the next decade, researchers found the mean population BMI rose annually from 2013 to 2021, then plateaued in 2022 at 46%, followed by a slight decrease in 2023 to 45.6%. The dataset included nearly 48 million BMI measurements from 16.7 million nonpregnant adults.
Usual suspects: No doubt stakeholders are looking forward to seeing results from the relatively new glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs such as tirzepatide and semaglutide, which are increasingly being used for weight loss. Approximately 1.1 million patients were prescribed a GLP-1 drug between January 2018 and June 2024, 17% of such prescriptions were for obesity and 83% for diabetes, according to MedRxiv.