Depression and appearance-related distress in functioning with lipedema

Abstract

Lipedema is a chronic, progressive adipose tissue disorder that may impact the quality of life of women who suffer from it. The main aim of this study was to asses the role of perceived symptom severity, physical and psychological functioning with the disease in predicting quality of life in patients with lipedema. We conducted an online study with 329 participants who responded to five questionnaires measuring quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF), lipedema symptom severity, mobility (Lower Extremity Functional Scale), depression (Patients Health Questionnaire-9), and appearance-related distress (Derriford Appearance Scale 24). Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that appearance-related distress and depression explained significantly more variance in quality of life when added to the symptom severity and mobility. Lower quality of life was predicted by higher symptom severity, lower mobility, higher appearance-related distress and higher depression severity. Appearance-related distress and depression constitute important aspects of psychological functioning in women with lipedema. Considering their relationship with quality of life, their assessment should be included in lipedema treatment with appropriate interventions aimed at decreasing appearance-related distress, as well as preventing and addressing depression.

Letter to the Editor regarding Lipoedema – myths and facts, Part 1 and Part 5. European Best Practice of Lipoedema – Summary of the European Lipoedema Forum consensus. Phlebologie 2020; 49: 31–49

“…E. Psychology: We agree women with lipedema experience appearance-related distress. We also agree depression and poor mobility adversely affect quality of life [30] and increase pain. We have no evidence to support the statement that: "psychological factors can contribute significantly to the development of lipoedema" [31].…”

Lipedema—An update

“…Lipedema has a negative impact on psychological well-being and self-esteem (Dudek, Białaszek, Ostaszewski, & Smidt, 2018), although the primary role of depression in lipedema has been questioned (Bertsch & Erbacher, 2018a).…”

Increase in Leptin and PPAR-γ Gene Expression in Lipedema Adipocytes Differentiated in vitro from Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

“…[11][12][13][14]. Women with lipedema experience pain, heaviness of the affected limb, psychosocial distress, anxiety, eating disorders and the inability to lose weight as the fat tissue is highly resistant to diet and exercise [2,7,12,[15][16][17]. Symptoms may progress in the advanced stages of lipedema and are associated with increased cardiovascular and renal diseases [1,2].…”