Public Interest in the Off-Label Use of Glucagon-like Peptide 1 Agonists (Ozempic) for Cosmetic Weight Loss: A Google Trends Analysis

Abstract

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists are a drug class used for the treatment of diabetes that have recently gained FDA approval for medical management of obesity. The off-label use of Ozempic (Novo Nordisk, Bagsværd, Denmark), the brand name of the GLP-1 agonist semaglutide, for cosmetic weight loss has been popularized by social media and celebrity influence. The aim of this study was to analyze with Google Trends (Alphabet Inc., Mountain View, CA) the recent search popularity of Ozempic and related GLP-1 agonists. The term "Ozempic"was analyzed with Google Trends. Search popularity was assessed in terms of relative search volume (RSV) over a 5-year period. Changes in RSV were further compared with other GLP-1 agonists, "Wegovy"(Novo NordisK) and "Mounjaro"(Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN). Between March 2018 and February 2023, overall RSV in "Ozempic"grew exponentially in the United States. Simple linear regression analysis showed significantly increased RSV over time with an R2 of 0.915 and a regression coefficient of 0.957 (P