More kids age 8 to 11 are being prescribed weight loss drugs: study

The number of children taking GLP-1 drugs has exploded in the years since doctors started prescribing it to them.

A new study published today by NYU Langone found that GLP-1 prescriptions given to kids aged 8 to 11 were 310 times higher in June 2026 than they were in 2019.

This is despite the fact that no GLP-1 medication is FDA-approved for use in kids under age 12. However, doctors can prescribe the drug off-label to younger kids (aged 8 to 11) in extreme cases.

Despite the massive increase in terms of percentage, the number of children under age 12 with a prescription for drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is still relatively low: just 20,282 during the 7.5-year study period.

Dr. Babak J. Orandi, the lead investigator and associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, put the number in perspective.

“In context, this is a very small number,” he told The Post, pointed to data suggesting that about 3.3 million 8- to 11-year-olds in the US have obesity.

“Against that denominator, 20,282 GLP-1 children receiving prescriptions represents a tiny fraction of children eligible for treatment. While the number receiving treatment is very small, uptake is accelerating quickly.”

To Orandi, the bigger problem isn’t that kids are on skinny jabs — it’s that there are so many kids with obesity in the first place.

“I’m less concerned about the uptake of GLP-1 treatment than the underlying factors driving this trend,” he said.

About 20% of children have obesity and most of the children in this study who were prescribed a medication already had a complication of obesity (pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea).

“The concern isn’t that more children are being treated; rather, it’s that so many need to be, so many already have complications of obesity.”

The great GLP-1 debate

GLP-1 drugs could help obese children get their weight under control and support blood sugar regulation — reducing their risk of things like diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease into adulthood and middle age.

But starting them at a young age raises the obvious question: How will it affect them in the long term?

“These patients are taking medications during critical periods of development and growth,” said pediatrician Dan Cooper, a obesity researcher at the University of California, Irvine. He worries about how these drugs might affect their growth, bones and puberty.

“We don’t yet have studies on the long-term effects of GLP-1 therapies in teens, so young patients taking them are practically participants in a research study.” 

Others experts say this is missing the bigger problem: The kids that get GLP-1s off-label are struggling with extraordinary cases of obesity, which causes a number of health complications from sleep apnea to pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, and fatty liver disease. They need the help to live a long and healthy life.

“The careful use of GLP-1s remains a valuable tool in confronting the obesity epidemic among young Americans.”

Only for rich kids?

Childhood obesity is rising, with as many as 1 in 5 children struggling with obesity — an all-time high. Meanwhile, adult obesity may be slowing — and the rise of GLP-1 use could be a major factor.

“Despite the rapid rise in prescribing” GLP-1s to younger kids, Orandi said, “most who could benefit still aren’t.”

Young children with obesity in upper-income communities were 55% more likely to get GLP-1 meds compared to those who lived outside these communities.

Study co-senior author Allan B. Massie, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, emphasizes that these are “valuable” medications that should be available to more — not only to those “who have access to health insurance and can afford to visit pediatric clinics.”