{
  "id": "SQ-LIP-000002",
  "question": "How common is lipedema, and who does it affect?",
  "question_pt": "Qual a frequência do lipedema e quem ele afeta?",
  "knowledge_state": "emerging",
  "tags": [
    "Epidemiology"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "prevalence",
    "epidemiology",
    "women",
    "how common",
    "prevalência",
    "epidemiologia",
    "mulheres",
    "frequência"
  ],
  "current_answer": "Screening-based estimates suggest lipedema may affect roughly 12% of adult women in one Brazilian study, but this relies on self-reported questionnaires rather than clinical confirmation and is likely an over-estimate of clinically diagnosed disease. It affects predominantly women; occurrence in men is rare but documented.",
  "current_answer_pt": "Estimativas baseadas em rastreamento sugerem que o lipedema pode afetar cerca de 12% das mulheres adultas em um estudo brasileiro, mas isso se baseia em questionários autorrelatados e não em confirmação clínica, provavelmente superestimando a doença diagnosticada clinicamente. Afeta predominantemente mulheres; a ocorrência em homens é rara, porém documentada.",
  "major_uncertainty": "Prevalence figures come from questionnaire screening with selection bias; true clinically-confirmed prevalence is unknown.",
  "version": "1.0",
  "updated": "2026-05-30",
  "evidence_direction": {
    "supporting": 1,
    "contradicting": 0,
    "other": 1
  },
  "knowledge_freshness": {
    "pct": 100,
    "sources": 4,
    "newest": 2025,
    "oldest": 2022,
    "label": "current evidence base"
  },
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "SCR-LIP-000012",
      "role": "supporting",
      "statement": "The estimated prevalence of probable lipedema among adult Brazilian women is approximately 12.3%, indicating a common rather than rare condition."
    },
    {
      "id": "SCR-LIP-000014",
      "role": "context",
      "statement": "Lipedema occurs in men with the classical phenotype (bilateral, symmetrical, foot-sparing lower-limb fat accumulation, negative Stemmer sign), although it almost exclusively affects women and male occurrence is rare."
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    "DOI:10.1590/1677-5449.202101981",
    "DOI:10.1590/1677-5449.202301832",
    "DOI:10.7759/cureus.87332"
  ],
  "cite": "Scientific Claim Registry. How common is lipedema, and who does it affect?. SQ-LIP-000002 v1.0; 2026-05-30. https://scientificclaims.org/q/SQ-LIP-000002/v1.0.html",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "1.0",
      "date": "2026-05-30",
      "url": "https://scientificclaims.org/q/SQ-LIP-000002/v1.0.html"
    }
  ],
  "url": "https://scientificclaims.org/q/SQ-LIP-000002.html",
  "url_pt": "https://scientificclaims.org/pt/q/SQ-LIP-000002.html",
  "version_url": "https://scientificclaims.org/q/SQ-LIP-000002/v1.0.html",
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "disclaimer": "Evidence-bounded summary; not medical advice."
}