Barriers Remain for Youth Eligible for Weight Management Medication as Part of Broader Treatment Plan

Youth seeking care at a specialty clinic to manage obesity encountered barriers to obtaining prescriptions for injectable GLP-1 weight management medications based on characteristics such as age, ethnicity and preferred language, according to a study by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s PolicyLab and Clinical Futures. The study, “Characteristics of Youth Treated with GLP-1RAs at an Integrated Weight Management Clinic,” published in the April 2026 Pediatrics (published online March 2), examined 1,647 eligible youth who visited an integrated weight management program from January 2023 to August,2025 after the Federal Drug Administration approved GLP-1s for youth obesity management in December 2022. Only 20% of eligible youth were prescribed the medication. Those more likely to receive a prescription were older, had a higher body mass index, abnormal laboratory testing, and were of non-Hispanic white or Hispanic ethnicity. The patients prescribed medication were also found to have had more health care visits with weight management and subspecialties. The odds of prescription decreased if the patient's preferred language was not English. Researchers reviewed the medical record in detail for a subset of patients and found that about 64% of those patients who received a prescription noted interruptions in care - citing lack of insurance coverage, medication shortages, side effects, and health care access. Researchers state that, during the time of the study, local Medicaid policy covered the medication for this population. Those policies have since changed and could impact youths' ability to access these drugs. Researchers also noted that non-Hispanic Black youths were less likely to be given a prescription for weight loss medication despite rates of obesity for that population being twice that of white youth. Authors state that additional strategies may be needed to reach all youth who would benefit from access to treatment.

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