# GLP-1 Drugs in Children and Adolescents: 18 Randomized Trials Pooled | This GLP Meta-analysis of 18 GLP-1 trials in 1,402 children and adolescents: body weight down 3.02 kg, BMI down 1.45, and a median treatment duration of 0.51 years. Publisher: This GLP Editorial Team Canonical: https://thisglp.com/research/glp1-in-children-all-eighteen-trials Updated: 2026-09-18 Published: 2026-09-16 [← Research](https://thisglp.com/research) Evidence # GLP-1 Drugs in Children and Adolescents: 18 Randomized Trials Pooled A meta-analysis pooled 18 randomized trials covering 1,402 children and adolescents aged six to seventeen. The pooled effects were modest, and the median treatment lasted about six months. [This GLP Editorial Team](https://thisglp.com/about)September 20265 min readUpdated September 2026 Median treatment duration across 18 pediatric trials · 0.51 years · five years, for scale · Pooled effects, 1,402 participants · body weight · −3.02 kg · BMI · −1.45 · HbA1c · −0.44% **Research, not medical advice.** This GLP is independent and educational. Nothing here is a substitute for individualized care from a licensed clinician, and reading it creates no doctor–patient relationship. Talk to your own provider before starting, stopping, or changing any medication, peptide, or therapy. See our [methodology](https://thisglp.com/methodology) and [terms](https://thisglp.com/terms). ## Key takeaways - A meta-analysis pooled 18 randomized trials of GLP-1 drugs in under-18s, covering 1,402 participants. - Pooled effects: body weight −3.02 kg (95% CI −4.98 to −1.06), BMI −1.45 (−2.40 to −0.49), HbA1c −0.44 percentage points (−0.68 to −0.21). - Systolic blood pressure fell 2.73 mm Hg (95% CI −4.04 to −1.43). Gastrointestinal adverse events rose. - Median treatment duration across the whole evidence base was 0.51 years. - Suicidal ideation and behaviors were not significantly different — over that same short window. One trial in adolescents gets quoted everywhere. It is a good trial and [this site has its own page on it](https://thisglp.com/research/are-glp1-drugs-safe-for-teens). This is what the rest of the evidence looks like when you pool all of it. ## What was pooled Eighteen randomized controlled trials — eleven in obesity, six in type 2 diabetes, one in prediabetes — covering 1,402 participants, of whom 838 received a GLP-1 and 564 placebo. [\[1\]](https://thisglp.com/research/glp1-in-children-all-eighteen-trials#ref-1) Mean age was 13.7, with a range from six to seventeen. Fifty-nine percent were girls. The pooled results: HbA1c fell 0.44 percentage points, 95% CI −0.68 to −0.21. Fasting glucose fell 9.92 mg/dL, 95% CI −16.20 to −3.64. Body weight fell 3.02 kg, 95% CI −4.98 to −1.06. BMI fell 1.45 points, 95% CI −2.40 to −0.49, with BMI standard deviation score down 0.20 and BMI percentile down 7.24. Systolic blood pressure fell 2.73 mm Hg, 95% CI −4.04 to −1.43. Gastrointestinal adverse events rose. This is not a rebuttal of the big trial Three kilograms sounds small next to a sixteen percent BMI reduction, and the two numbers are not in conflict. This pool mixes several different drugs at several different doses, across obesity, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, with a median duration of about six months. The famous trial is one drug at its highest dose in one population over sixty-eight weeks. Pooling heterogeneous trials answers a different question than running a big clean one — which is [the same lesson comparators teach](https://thisglp.com/research/do-glp1-drugs-cause-gout) in a different key. ## Half a year The number that should stop you is the duration. Median treatment across the entire randomized evidence base in children was 0.51 years, with an interquartile range of 0.25 to 1.00. A thirteen-year-old starting one of these drugs is not making a six-month decision. Obesity in adolescence is a chronic condition and the drugs work while taken. So the relevant exposure is years, possibly decades, and there is essentially no randomized evidence at that horizon in this age group. Not bad evidence. Absent evidence. ## The safety signal people ask about Suicidal ideation and behaviors were not significantly different between drug and placebo in this pool. That is genuinely reassuring and it is bounded by the same half-year median, in trials that were not designed or powered to detect it. The adult version of the question has [its own longer story](https://thisglp.com/research/glp1-and-suicidal-ideation). Gastrointestinal effects did rise, which the authors flag as warranting attention in long-term management. In a population that has to keep eating enough to finish growing, that is a more consequential side effect than it is in adults. ## Why this page exists on a site that cannot sell to them Nothing on this roster ships to anybody under eighteen, and no seller here offers a pediatric service. This page is not a buying guide. It is here because the adolescent evidence base is the clearest available example of something this market does constantly: one strong trial becomes the whole story, and the thinness behind it stops being visible. Grown-up buyers meet the same pattern in [much weaker form](https://thisglp.com/research/do-glp1-drugs-help-hidradenitis-suppurativa) all the time. Parents being asked to decide deserve the full picture, and [nobody in this market is in the business of providing it](https://thisglp.com/tools/what-sellers-publish). ## Frequently asked Why are the pooled numbers smaller than the famous trial's? Because the pool mixes several drugs at several doses across obesity, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, with a median duration near six months. The large trial used one drug at its top dose for sixty-eight weeks. They are different questions, not contradictory answers. How long has this been studied in children? Not long. Median treatment duration across all eighteen randomized trials was 0.51 years, interquartile range 0.25 to 1.00. What about suicidal thoughts? Not significantly different from placebo in this pool. That result is bounded by the same short follow-up and by trials that were not designed to detect it. Can a teenager get these drugs from a telehealth seller? Not from anyone on this roster. No seller here ships to minors or offers a pediatric service. ## Sources 1. \[1\] Kotecha P, et al. (2025). Efficacy and Safety of GLP-1 RAs in Children and Adolescents With Obesity or Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis JAMA Pediatrics. [PMID 40952752](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40952752/) ## Where to get it ### Best GLP-1 injections Every injectable seller we can verify, with the price each one publishes and an honest read of what the trials measured. 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