(NewsNation) — A new study suggests more teens and young adults are turning to drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss, while fewer are opting for weight-loss surgery.

The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, examined more than 204,000 patients ages 13 to 25 who received obesity treatment between 2022 and early 2026. It found that by the start of this year, more than 96% of patients receiving obesity treatment were using GLP-1 medications alone, up from 88% in 2022.

Meanwhile, the use of weight-loss surgery fell from nearly 12% to less than 4% during the same period. Similar trends have been observed among metabolic and bariatric surgery patients overall.

The findings align with an earlier national analysis that found monthly GLP-1 use among people ages 12 to 25 increased nearly 600% between 2020 and 2023.

Even so, researchers noted that only a small percentage of young people with obesity are receiving prescriptions for the medications. The CDC estimates that about 20% of U.S. children and adolescents have obesity.

Nearly 1 in 10 adolescents have tried risky, nonprescription weight-loss products, including diet pills, laxatives and diuretics, according to a review of decades of global data.

Girls were significantly more likely than boys to report using such products, and researchers linked the behavior to low self-esteem, family pressure related to weight and social media’s influence on body image.