ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Obesity
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Adipose Tissue Dysfunction in the Pathogenesis of Obesity ComorbiditiesView all 3 articles
Lipomas Are Associated With a Higher Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Components: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel
- 2Shamir Medical Center Assaf Harofeh, Tzrifin, Israel
- 3Galilee Medical Center, Nahariyya, Israel
- 4University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Introduction: Lipomas are the most common benign adipocytic tumors and are traditionally regarded as incidental findings with cosmetic significance. However, their frequent occurrence in adults with obesity and metabolic risk factors raises the possibility that lipomas may reflect systemic metabolic dysfunction rather than isolated adipose overgrowth. The present study evaluated whether adults with lipomas have a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome components, obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), compared with population benchmarks. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, multicenter, cross-sectional analysis of electronic health records from three Israeli hospitals (Barzilai, Shamir, and Galil Medical Centers) between January 2000 and December 2022. Adults aged ≥21 years with a clinical diagnosis of lipoma (ICD-9-CM 214) were included. Data were harmonized using the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model and analyzed via the Lynx real-world health data platform. Prevalence of obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and T2DM was compared against age-and sex-specific benchmarks from the 2023 Israeli Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) survey. Subgroup comparisons used Z-tests or exact binomial tests with α = 0.05, reporting absolute differences with 95% confidence intervals. Results: A total of 7,868 adults with lipomas were analyzed (mean [SD] age, 53.0 [15.0] years; 53.6% women). Compared with population benchmarks, lipoma patients showed consistently higher prevalence of all four metabolic traits. Dyslipidemia was most overrepresented, followed by hypertension and obesity, while T2DM showed a uniform excess across all age and sex subgroups. Clustering of three or more metabolic traits—
Keywords: Lipoma, metabolic syndrome, Obesity, Epidemiology, Diabetes Mellitus, Dyslipidemia, Adipose tissue dysfunction
Received: 09 Oct 2025; Accepted: 18 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Berger, Menashe, Damti-Geva, Yakubov, Ben Yehuda, Peleg and Talisman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ori Berger, betheori@gmail.com
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