What happened
Bariatric News on July 20, 2026 summarized a UT Southwestern analysis of more than 204,000 people ages 13 to 25 treated for obesity in Epic Cosmos between May 2022 and January 2026. Exclusive GLP-1 use among those treated rose from 88.2% in May to November 2022 to 96.1% from June 2025 through January 2026. Metabolic surgery fell from 11.6% to 3.7%. Combined surgery plus a GLP-1 stayed at 0.2% in both windows.
Lead author Sarah Messiah said the file captures an inflection after some GLP-1s were approved for adolescents in December 2022. She also said sequencing rules for this age group are still thin. JAMA Pediatrics published the utilization analysis.
What it means
Parents and young adults already in obesity care can expect medication-first pathways to be more common than they were in 2022. Combined care exists but is rare. Anyone considering surgery should still ask a pediatric or young-adult program how they sequence the two tools, because the field has not settled that protocol.
What it does not mean
It does not say surgery stopped working, or that every teen should start a GLP-1. The percentages describe people already treated for obesity, not the whole age group. The desk used Bariatric News, not the full JAMA Pediatrics PDF.
Sources
Related guide
GLP-1 medications Information Center hub
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GLP-1 Weight Loss Medications forum
Educational information only. Not medical advice. Do not start, stop, or change treatment from this brief.