Prevalence and risk factors of restless leg syndrome in a single hemodialysis unit

Aim: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by symptoms of spontaneous, continuous leg movements associated with unpleasant paresthesias. RLS is common among dialysis patients, with a reported incidence of 6.6 to 6.8 percent.This study is an attempt to find out the prevalence of RLS in our hemodialysis patients. We compared several demographicand clinical characteristics of RLS patients identified by the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG)criteria with those of individuals without RLS. Materials and methods:We studied 76 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis (34 females and42 males, mean age: 52.28 ± 18.13, range: 18–83 years). RLS patients’ diagnoses were confirmed using the IRLSSG criteria.RLS is diagnosed when a patient answered positively to all of the 4 questions. Hemoglobin, ferritin, iron, iron binding capacity, PTH, and Kt/V ratio values were measured. Results:We found an RLS frequency of 14.5% in our sample. There was no significant difference in terms of serum iron,ferritin, creatinine, iPTH, hemoglobin, and Kt/V between groups of hemodialysis patients with and without RLS (P = 0.89,0.87, and 0.37, respectively).Conclusion: The 14.5% prevalence of RLS in hemodialysis patients was lower than that has been reported previously. The variability in RLS prevalence rates among hemodialysis patients may result from some racial, regional, socioeconomic,or ethnic differences. These findings need to be confirmed in larger studies.