A new cross-sectional study published in Obesity Science & Practice set out to address precisely these gaps. Researchers surveyed patients at four outpatient clinics at Temple Health’s main campus in North Philadelphia, an urban health system serving a large proportion of historically marginalized and medically vulnerable patients. The setting matters enormously. Obesity disproportionately affects individuals from historically minoritized racial and ethnic identities, and populations with lower income and lower educational attainment have been conspicuously underrepresented in previous surveys of GLP-1 receptor agonist perceptions. By recruiting through flyers with unique QR codes in family medicine, general internal medicine, endocrinology, and cardiology clinics, the team captured perspectives from a sample in which 40 percent of participants identified as Hispanic, 27 percent as Black, and 21 percent as White, with 44 percent reporting household incomes under $50,000 annually. Data collection ran from November 2024 to April 2025, a deliberately compressed window designed to limit temporal bias in a rapidly evolving treatment landscape.

The questionnaire itself was assembled from previously validated instruments, including recent KFF and Pew surveys and peer-reviewed studies, with branching logic ensuring that participants only answered questions appropriate to their knowledge and experience. Safeguards against duplicate and bot responses included screening for implausible completion times under two minutes and retaining only complete surveys. Fifty-two individuals ultimately completed the 10-to-15-minute questionnaire, receiving a $15 gift card for their time. The sample skewed heavily toward women, who made up 85 percent of respondents, with a mean age of 38.9 years. Roughly 80 percent described themselves as slightly or very overweight, 71 percent reported that a health care provider had told them they had overweight or obesity, and the most common chronic conditions were high blood pressure at 39 percent, high cholesterol at 25 percent, and diabetes at 23 percent. Forty percent of respondents reported current or prior GLP-1 receptor agonist use.

The first striking finding concerned awareness. Nearly all participants, 98 percent, reported having heard at least a little about this new class of weight-loss medications, a figure consistent with national polling. The topics participants had heard the most about were weight loss, endorsed by 94 percent, treatment or prevention of health conditions at 76 percent, and pharmacy shortages at 71 percent. Celebrity use of the drugs had reached 65 percent of respondents. At the other end of the spectrum, knowledge thinned considerably: only 35 percent had heard about potential long-term health problems the medications might cause, 43 percent about their potential to lower alcohol cravings, and just 29 percent about possible reductions in cigarette cravings. Notably, current and former users reported greater exposure to information about costs, insurance coverage, side effects, and long-term risks than never users, suggesting that direct experience broadens the informational landscape considerably.

When it came to knowledge of indications, the picture was largely encouraging. Participants most frequently identified overweight or obesity, at 88 percent, and diabetes, at 75 percent, as conditions treatable by these medications, both of which align with FDA-approved indications. High blood pressure was selected by 43 percent, heart disease by 39 percent, and high cholesterol by 35 percent. The least recognized indications were osteoarthritis at 2 percent and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease at 8 percent, conditions for which the evidence base is newer and less publicized. Similarly, the side effects participants knew best, nausea and vomiting at 71 percent, diarrhea at 49 percent, and constipation at 47 percent, are indeed among the most common adverse events reported in clinical trials. The least recognized potential effects were unplanned pregnancy at 10 percent, drowsiness at 12 percent, and depression or mood swings at 14 percent. The researchers observed that endorsement rates for most side effects were higher among those with direct medication experience, and they emphasized that for lesser-known indications and concerns, education may be most effective when tailored to the individual patient.

Weight-loss expectations revealed a more complicated picture. At three months, 69 percent of participants believed a person could lose between 0 and 25 pounds, a reasonable estimate. But expectations diverged sharply at later time points: at 12 months, 34 percent believed a person could lose 50 to 75 pounds, 16 percent believed 75 to 100 pounds, and one respondent believed more than 100 pounds was possible. The authors point to a likely methodological culprit: clinical trials typically report weight loss as a percentage of body weight, while the survey asked about absolute pounds, the unit patients are most accustomed to thinking in. Converting trial metrics into intuitive units may have inflated some expectations, as may exposure to extreme transformation stories on social media. Meanwhile, over a quarter of participants reported having heard little or nothing about how these drugs actually work mechanistically. Among the 23 participants who attempted a free-text explanation, 44 percent described reduced hunger, 17 percent described weight loss itself, and 17 percent described slowed metabolism or replication of natural GLP-1 receptors in the brain, responses that capture the drugs’ appetite-suppressing effects without fully conveying their glucoregulatory physiology.

Learning preferences added a layer of irony to the findings. Although 87 percent of participants said they preferred to learn about their health from a physician or other health care professional, the sources from which they had actually received information about GLP-1 receptor agonists were dominated by commercials or advertisements at 73 percent, doctors at 63 percent, and mass or social media at 53 percent. The gap was even starker when stratified by use: among participants who had taken these medications, 90 percent had heard about them from their doctor, versus only 42 percent among never users. This suggests that many patients who could benefit from GLP-1 receptor agonists may never hear about them from a provider, potentially hindering consideration of an effective treatment option. The authors argue that expanded education efforts by prescribing clinicians are essential, particularly if survey respondents were disproportionately knowledgeable or interested, a possibility the convenience sampling approach cannot rule out.

Perhaps the most novel and provocative portion of the study explored what the researchers call potential household-level effects, echoing the ripple effect previously documented for metabolic and bariatric surgery and lifestyle modification programs. Among the 12 participants with current or past GLP-1 receptor agonist use and at least one adult household member, 75 percent reported that taking the medication had influenced the adults in their home to think about their own weight, eating habits, and physical activity either some or a lot. Even more striking, 42 percent reported that at least one adult household member had lost weight since the respondent began the medication. In contrast, the perceived impact on children and adolescents was more limited: among the six participants with minors at home, 50 percent reported some influence on the children’s weight-related thinking, but no participant reported a strong influence, and none reported weight loss among child or adolescent household members.

The household effects extended to the grocery cart and the dinner table. Among respondents reporting on food purchasing, 81 percent said purchases of baked goods, crackers, chips, and snacks had decreased since starting the medication, 76 percent reported buying less bread, pasta, rice, and cereal, and 62 percent reported reduced purchases of beverages such as soda and fruit juice. Meanwhile, 71 percent reported increased purchases of fruits and vegetables and 48 percent reported more poultry and seafood. Meal behaviors shifted in parallel: 69 percent reported that their household ate healthier food, 46 percent reported smaller meals, and every participant endorsed at least one change in household eating patterns. These findings complement recent market research showing GLP-1-related declines in grocery spending on calorie-dense processed foods and reduced spending at fast food chains and limited-service restaurants, suggesting that the pharmacology of appetite suppression may propagate through shared food environments to reshape the consumption habits of people who never swallow a single dose.

The authors are careful to frame the household findings as preliminary and hypothesis-generating given the small sample size, and they acknowledge several limitations: convenience sampling, a modest response rate that may have attracted more knowledgeable patients, heavy recruitment from specialty clinics, entirely self-reported data, and missing responses on some household questions. Future work, they suggest, should examine moderators such as the age and health habits of household members, whether other members are also on these medications, and the culture around weight within the home, factors critical for maximizing benefits while minimizing risks such as unintentional contributions to disordered eating. Still, the study offers a valuable window into a population that has been largely absent from the national conversation about these blockbuster drugs. Its central message is clear: patients understand the headline claims about GLP-1 receptor agonists but know far less about their lesser-known indications, mechanisms, and risks, they overwhelmingly want to learn from their doctors rather than advertisements, and the reach of a single prescription may extend well beyond the person who fills it, quietly rewiring the dietary habits of everyone at the table.

Subject of Research: Patient knowledge of GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity and their potential household-level effects in an urban health system

Article Title: Patient Knowledge of GLP‐1 Receptor Agonists for Obesity and Exploration of Potential Household‐Level Effects in an Urban Health System

Article References: Schumacher, L. M., Rodrigues, E., Mraz, E., Wohler, D., Rajpal, A., Herring, S. J., Rubin, D. J., Rao, A. D., Igarabuza, L., Flanagan, S., Edmundowicz, D., & Jones, R. M. (2026). Patient Knowledge of GLP‐1 Receptor Agonists for Obesity and Exploration of Potential Household‐Level Effects in an Urban Health System. Obesity Science & Practice, 12(5), Article e70199. https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.70199

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1002/osp4.70199

Keywords: GLP-1 receptor agonists, obesity, semaglutide, Ozempic, Wegovy, patient knowledge, health disparities, household effects, weight loss, urban health system, patient education, North Philadelphia