The Frequency of Restless Legs Syndrome in Health Care Workers

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Introduction: To investigate the frequency of restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) in healthcare workers and the relation between the effective factors. Material and Method: Totally 266 doctors, nurses, and midwives were included into this cross-sectional study. Two hundred thirteen of study group were reached. The questionnaires about demographic data, socioeconomic factors, smoking, and alcohol status, co-morbidities, sleep behaviours, and diagnostic criteria, and severity of RLS, and the risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) were applied by face to face interview. Results: Forty nine of the cases were male, and 164 were female. Fifty one of cases were doctors, 162 were nurses, and midwives. The frequency of RLS was 18.3% in health care workers. The frequency of RLS was not statistically different between genders. Twenty three of 39 cases diagnosed RLS had family history. The rate of being late for work was high, median sleep time was short, and sleep latency was high in RLS diagnosed cases. The ratio of high risk for OSAS was high in RLS diagnosed cases. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that having high risk for OSAS, and presence of co-morbidities were independent risk factors for RLS. Conclusion: The rate of RLS was determined high in health care workers. It is thought that because having high risk for OSAS may be a risk factor for RLS, especially in the presence of co-morbidities, health care workers must query for sleep disorders as RLS and OSAS, and they must be aware of these conditions.

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restless legs syndrome , health care workers , obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Kocatepe Medical Journal

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Kocatepe Medical Journal