More than half of US adults, an estimated that 137 million people, are eligible for semagludtide for weight loss, diabetes management, or prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events, according to researchers at the Richard A and Susan F Smith Center for Outcomes Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). It is estimated that 15 million adults - just over 10% of those who are medically eligible – are currently take semaglutide.
"These staggering numbers mean that we are likely to see large increases in spending on semaglutide and related medications in years to come," said corresponding author, Dr Dhruv S Kazi, associate director of the Smith Center and director of the cardiac critical care unit at BIDMC. "Ensuring equitable access to these effective but high-cost medications, as well as supporting individuals so that they can stay on the therapy long-term, should be a priority for our clinicians and policymakers."
Dr Ivy Shi, who is a resident in internal medicine at BIDMC, worked with Kazi to produce the analysis. They used five years' worth of recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a long-running survey of the US population run by the US Department of Health and Human Services, to identify U.S. adults aged 18 years or older who would be eligible for semaglutide treatment based on currently approved indications.
They analysed information about 25,531 survey participants gathered through in-person interviews, physical examinations and laboratory testing with 8504 individuals eligible for semaglutide. In population-wide estimates, the mean age was 50.7 years (95% CI, 49.9-51.6 years) and 49.1% (95% CI, 47.5%-50.8%) were women.
They found that of the 136.8 million US adults eligible for semaglutide, 35.0 million adults would be eligible for the medication for diabetes management, 129.2 million adults for weight loss and 8.9 million adults for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The semaglutide-eligible population includes 26.8 million adults covered by Medicare, 13.8 million covered by Medicaid and 61.1 million covered by commercial insurance.
"The large number of US adults eligible for semaglutide highlights its potential transformative impact on population health," said Shi. "Prior studies have shown that more than half of the individuals who have taken these medications state the therapy was difficult to afford, interventions to reduce economic barriers to access are urgently needed."
The findings were reported in the paper, 'Semaglutide Eligibility Across All Current Indications for US Adults', published in JAMA Cardiology. To access this paper, please click here
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