Quality of life, its factors, and sociodemographic characteristics of Polish women with lipedema

Abstract

Background Lipedema is a type of subcutaneous adipose tissue disorder that affects mainly women. Its main symptom is bilateral fat accumulation on the extremities with associated pain in the affected areas. Despite growing interest in lipedema among patients and medical health professionals, lipedema is still often misdiagnosed, misunderstood, and mistreated. To promote better understanding of lipedema, we aimed to investigate factors related to the quality of life and describe selected sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of women with lipedema in Poland. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional online survey that was completed by 98 women with lipedema. The participants responded to questionnaires regarding quality of life, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and depression symptom severity. Results The participants reported low quality of life and high severity of depressive symptoms. The more severe the symptoms related to pain, heaviness, and swelling, the lower the quality of life. Further analyses showed that depression severity mediated this relationship. Conclusions The current study provides initial information on screening questions, lipedema symptoms, and comorbidities, pointing to the areas needing in-depth investigation. Further steps to improve quality of life in women with lipedema and to reduce health costs should include the education of medical health professionals, using diagnostic tools that allow for differentiation among diagnoses and precise health risk assessment, and creating Polish treatment guidelines for lipedema.

Investigation of clinical characteristics and genome associations in the ‘UK Lipoedema’ cohort

“…Despite the strict selection criteria limiting numbers of recruits, the "UK Lipoedema" cohort is typical of other lipoedema cases described in the literature. The recruited lipoedema patients are strikingly similar to that of Dudek and colleagues, who reported similar low WHR ratios (average value = 0.78), self-reported high levels of easy bruising (91%), tenderness/pain (83%) and disproportional weight loss (87%) [14]. The age of onset was mainly reported as pubertal.…”

“…However, later in life, lipoedema is often complicated by obesity, in which case, historical symptoms of disproportionately big legs but small upper trunk are key to the diagnosis. Interestingly, patients with lipoedema display a less severe cardiovascular profile and have a normal lipid profile than those of equivalent BMI without lipoedema [12][13][14]. The gynoid profile of lipoedema may even protect against diabetes [12,15].…”

Standard of care for lipedema in the United States

“…17,42,64,66,73 (B) 2.2 A Complete patient evaluation and assessment identifies impairments that can be addressed with medications, therapy, or referrals to other providers (Table 1). 11,17 (C) 2.3 Barriers to treatment of lipedema include difficulty of self-care, mobility limitations, social stigma attached to increased body size and physical limitations, anxiety, depression, 65 lack of social support, 12 availability of knowledgeable healthcare providers and affordability of services and limitations of some non-surgical treatments to reduce lipedema tissue. 37,66,74…”

Lipedema and lipedematous scalp: An overview

“…[21,22] In long standing cases, the consequences include gait disorders, joint damage, and immobility, secondary lymphedema, which raises the risk of cellulitis and sepsis, venous insufficiency (which can lead to venous leg ulcers), depression, weight gain, and maceration, and infection because of bulging tissue and deep skin folds. [17,18] ASSOCIATED DISORDERS Lymphedema, obesity, eating disorders, sleep apnea, hypertension, hypothyroidism, and venous insufficiency were the most commonly recorded associations in the previous studies. [2,21,23] HISTOPATHOLOGY Adipocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia, increased numbers of macrophages, and blood vessels, and dilation of capillaries are the histopathology findings.…”

“…[2] Lipedema patients commonly experience pain (either random or pressure-induced), discomfort, tenderness, cold skin, and easy bruising. [18] e pain associated with lipedema is characterized as dull, hard, and pressing. e femoral and anterior tibial regions are the most frequently affected.…”