Sociodemographic Disparities in Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Prescription for Obesity Treatment

Clicks: 16
ID: 329489
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Steady

Ranked #92 of 168 articles by views in Health Affairs Scholar

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 168 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Semaglutide and tirzepatide, two most recently approved glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, have demonstrated substantial effectiveness in weight management. However, evidence on treatment inequities remained limited. This study assesses temporal trends and sociodemographic disparities in semaglutide and tirzepatide prescription. Methods Using claims data from Komodo Health, we identified commercially insured individuals aged 18-64 with overweight or obesity but without type 2 diabetes. We estimated 6-month cumulative incidence of semaglutide and tirzepatide prescription across sociodemographic groups and examined disparities by healthcare provider socioeconomic status. Results Six-month cumulative incidence of prescription rose from 1.9% to 16.6% over the study period. Higher access was associated with being women, non-Hispanic White, in higher BMI categories, and seen at higher-SES-quartile provider. Uptake was significantly lower in lower provider neighborhood SES groups (lowest quartile aOR, 0.75; 95% CI 0.73-0.78 compared to highest quartile), and the differences widened over time. SES disparities were more pronounced at lower BMI categories. Conclusion Prescription of semaglutide and tirzepatide increased rapidly from 2021 to 2025. Sociodemographic disparities widened over time. Policies addressing provider-level resourcing, and pharmacoequity in drug benefit design are needed to prevent these therapies from exacerbating existing health disparities.
Reference Key
openalex_W7214065292 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Minh Trung Le, Andrew C. Stokes
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal Health Affairs Scholar
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/haschl/qxag255
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxag255
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.