Among millennials, 58 percent said they viewed GLP-1s as a temporary tool, whereas 46 percent of baby boomers agreed with that statement. In contrast, 54 percent of baby boomers said they viewed the medication as a long-term solution, versus 42 percent of millennials. In this respect, the older generation’s approach more accurately reflects what we know about obesity today.
“Based on current research, GLP-1 medications should be considered long-term therapies rather than short-term treatment, as most patients experience some degree of weight regain after discontinuation,” says Umashanker.
Treating GLP-1s as a long-term therapy is in line with the emerging view of obesity as a whole. “Over the last decade, the medical community has come to understand that obesity is a chronic disease, and like other chronic diseases, it most often requires long-term medication management,” says Kimberly Gudzune, MD, MPH, an obesity medicine physician and affiliate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She says this is similar to how we view treating chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, which also require long-term medication management.
This message is slowly making its way to the public. “It’s reassuring that many people are seeing GLP-1s as a long-term treatment, although the results also suggest that we still have more education to do,” Dr. Gudzune says.
