Abstract
Background & Objectives: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurologic disorder characterized by an unpleasant sensation in legs at rest, which increases in the evening and relieves by motions and different activities. We studied this syndrome in patient with CRF and analyzed the effect of various parameters possibly involved in the etiology of RLS.
Materials and methods: We investigated 194 patients (116 males and 78 females) with CRF (156 patients on chronic hemodialysis(HD) and 38 patients on conservative treatment with glomerular filtration rate (GFR)<50) using a structured questionnaire evaluating details of RLS, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, and drug history. All patients diagnosed to have RLS by International RLS Study Group criteria. Daytime sleepiness was investigated with a modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).
Results: There was no significant difference on the mean levels of hemoglobin (10.1 ± .31 g/dl versus 9.7 ± 0.18 g/dl; p= 0.28) ‚ serum iron (74.3µg/dl ± 6.6 versus
72.2 ± 3.6µg/dl; p= 0.75), and ferritin (519.8 ± 138 ng/ml versus 684 ± 97.4 ng/ml; p= 0.34) in patients with CRF who had RLS and those did not. HD Patients with RLS had longer history of dialysis compared to HD patients without RLS (34±2.5 months versus 51±6.7 months, p=0.025). There was a statistically significant difference in daytime-sleepiness in patients with CRF who did and did not have RLS (5.79±0.7 versus2.95±0.33, p=0.001).
Conclusion: Unlike general population, in patients with CRF, the presence of RLS has no relationship with level of serum ferritin or iron levels, or the degree of anemia. These patients had poor quality of sleep that is at least partly related to the presence of RLS.