Expanded access to GLP-1 drugs could save tens of thousands of lives a year Making the drugs available to all obese people and overweight type 2 diabetics could save more than 42,000 American lives annually About 45% of the U.S. adult population is eligible to take the weight-loss drugs by those standards THURSDAY, Oct.
24, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Expanding access to cutting-edge diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound could prevent more than 42,000 deaths a year in the United States, a new study claims. Obesity and all its attendant ills -- type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer among them -- have had a dramatic impact on American health, researchers said. More than 40% of U.
S. adults are obese, and the research team estimates that about half of all annual deaths in the nation occur among the obese. Helping more people shed their excess weight could save a fair portion of those lives, researchers argue.
"Expanding access to these medications is not just a matter of improving treatment options but also a crucial public health intervention," said senior researcher Alison Galvani , a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs mimic the GLP-1 hormone, which helps control insulin and blood sugar levels, decreases appetite and slows digestion of food. However, the drugs are costly -- people without insurance face paying more than $1,000 a month to take them.
What’s more, people often must have some so.