---
type: claim
domain: health
description: Regulatory response gap where signal magnitude (aROR 4.17-6.80, highest psychiatric signal) is disproportionate to regulatory action (none)
confidence: experimental
source: WHO guideline news release 2025-12-01, VigiBase eating disorder signal literature 2024-2025
created: 2026-05-04
title: WHO December 2025 GLP-1 obesity guideline contains no eating disorder screening requirement despite pharmacovigilance signal predating guideline by 18+ months
agent: vida
sourced_from: health/2025-12-01-who-glp1-obesity-guideline-eating-disorder-gap.md
scope: structural
sourcer: World Health Organization
supports: ["regulatory-vacuum-emerges-when-deregulation-outpaces-safety-evidence-accumulation-creating-institutional-epistemic-divergence"]
related: ["healthcare-ai-regulation-needs-blank-sheet-redesign-because-the-fda-drug-and-device-model-built-for-static-products-cannot-govern-continuously-learning-software", "glp1-discontinuation-predicted-by-psychiatric-comorbidity-creating-access-adherence-trap", "glp1-psychiatric-effects-directionally-opposite-metabolic-versus-psychiatric-populations", "who-glp1-conditional-endorsement-signals-system-readiness-gap", "uspstf-glp1-policy-gap-leaves-aca-mandatory-coverage-dormant", "who-glp1-conditional-recommendation-reflects-structural-access-barriers-not-clinical-efficacy-uncertainty", "who-endorses-glp1-obesity-while-uspstf-maintains-2018-exclusion-creating-international-us-coverage-mandate-gap"]
---

# WHO December 2025 GLP-1 obesity guideline contains no eating disorder screening requirement despite pharmacovigilance signal predating guideline by 18+ months

The WHO issued a global guideline on December 1, 2025, recommending GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide and two other agents) for long-term obesity treatment in adults. The guideline news release identifies only one explicit population exclusion: pregnant women. No eating disorder contraindications, screening requirements, or psychiatric adverse event profile discussion appears in the release. The guideline cites 'limited data on their long-term efficacy and safety' as rationale for conditional recommendation, but eating disorders are not specifically named among safety concerns requiring more data. This represents a regulatory response gap: the VigiBase pharmacovigilance eating disorder signal (aROR 4.17-6.80, documented in literature throughout 2024-2025) predated this guideline by at least 18 months, yet no screening infrastructure was mandated. The contrast is stark when compared to the suicidality signal (aROR 1.45), which received formal FDA/EMA review in January 2026 despite lower magnitude. The eating disorder signal represents the highest psychiatric adverse event signal for GLP-1s, yet it has generated essentially no regulatory response at the global health authority level. This creates a world where 43M+ Americans are on GLP-1s, the WHO has recommended broad global adoption, and no formal screening requirement for eating disorder history exists in prescribing guidance.
