Ozempic (Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist) in social media posts: Unveiling user perspectives through Reddit topic modeling

Abstract

Semaglutide, a Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist marketed under the brand name Ozempic, is originally prescribed for diabetes treatment and obesity management. However, healthy individuals without a medical cause use Ozempic without medical supervision to improve their physical appearance - a trend that has proliferated through social media, news coverage, and relevant celebrity endorsements. Thus, exploring social media posts can provide insight into understanding individuals’ experiences, beliefs, motivation, as well as misconceptions about Ozempic. To do so, this study utilizes BERTopic, a natural language processing approach for topic modeling, to analyze 46,491 Reddit posts from three subreddits (r/ozempic, r/ozempicforweightloss, r/semaglutide) dated between April 2019 and December 2023. The analysis revealed various discussion topics, including using Ozempic for weight loss, dosaging, insurance denial due to lack of a diabetes diagnosis, weight loss tracking, and side effect management. Overall, the overarching theme centered on the off-label use of Ozempic and its GLP-1 agonist counterparts for weight loss purposes. Moreover, awareness on the health hazards associated with the off-label and unsupervised use of Ozempic as an image enhancer do not frequently appear in the social media discussions. These findings, supported by a dynamic topic modeling analysis, offer ecological insights into the experiences and opinions of community members in Ozempic-related subreddits, reinforcing the growing evidence of the drug's increasing popularity for weight management as well as the role played by social media. The study also shows how information campaigns about the health risks associated with the off-label use of Ozempic by healthy individuals without a medical cause may help counterbalance the lack of risk awareness detected in social media discussions.