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Behaviour change in the era of biomedical advances

Nature Human Behaviour volume 7, pages 1417–1419 (2023)Cite this article

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New medications that target biological mechanisms to address obesity, diabetes and related cardiometabolic conditions are widely popular. As not everyone is eligible, willing or able to take medications, structural and behavioural solutions remain essential to treat and decrease the risk of cardiometabolic diseases.

This question has gained heightened salience as new biomedical solutions for disease management (for example, weight loss medications) have emerged and gained tremendous media coverage in recent years2. In the past decade, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved several weight loss and diabetes medications. Revolutionary solutions such as islet cell transplants are also on the horizon. These innovations raise the question of whether the need for behaviour change interventions and strategies will become obsolete.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Mohammed K. Ali

  2. Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Mohammed K. Ali

  3. Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Mohammed K. Ali

  4. Behavioral Science for Disease Prevention and Health Care, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Nikkil Sudharsanan

  5. Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Nikkil Sudharsanan

  6. Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Harsha Thirumurthy

  7. Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Harsha Thirumurthy

Authors
  1. Mohammed K. Ali
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  2. Nikkil Sudharsanan
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  3. Harsha Thirumurthy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammed K. Ali.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Frank B. Hu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Ali, M.K., Sudharsanan, N. & Thirumurthy, H. Behaviour change in the era of biomedical advances. Nat Hum Behav 7, 1417–1419 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01666-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01666-x

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