Genetics and Epidemiology of RLS

Medical disclaimer: this page synthesizes research literature for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice. Any change to RLS medication, including dopamine agonists (e.g., pramipexole/Mirapexin) or alpha-2-delta ligands (e.g., gabapentin/Neurontin), must be discussed with and supervised by a physician; abrupt discontinuation is dangerous.

What is established (grade A/B)

• RLS is substantially genetic, with MEIS1 as the dominant common-variant risk factor. The founding 2007 genome-wide association studies independently identified MEIS1, BTBD9, and MAP2K5/LBXCOR1(SKOR1) as genome-wide-significant RLS risk loci, each conferring >50% increased risk, with combined variants explaining over half of population-attributable risk (2007-winkelmann-gwas-meis1-btbd9-map2k5.md, PMID 17637780; 2007-stefansson-btbd9-periodic-limb-movements.md, PMID 17634447). A 2017 Lancet Neurology meta-analysis A confirmed 19 total risk loci and established MEIS1's effect size precisely (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.85-1.99) (2017-schormair-gwas-meta-analysis-thirteen-loci.md, PMID 29029846). The 2024 Nature Genetics mega-meta-analysis (116,647 cases, grade A) expanded this to 164 loci, including druggable glutamate-receptor genes (GRIA1/GRIA4) (2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md, PMID 38839884).
• BTBD9 risk alleles lower serum ferritin, giving a direct genetic-iron link. Each BTBD9 risk allele was associated with a 13% reduction in serum ferritin (95% CI 5-20%, p=0.002) in the original discovery study (2007-stefansson-btbd9-periodic-limb-movements.md).
• Population prevalence of clinically significant RLS is approximately 2.7% of adults, with milder/any symptoms in up to 7.2%, and the condition is markedly underdiagnosed (only 6.2% of significant sufferers received a formal diagnosis from their physician) (2005-allen-rest-general-population-prevalence.md, PMID 15956009).
• RLS/PLMS genetic risk loci (BTBD9, MEIS1, MAP2K5/SKOR1, TOX3) generalize to periodic limb movements even in people without a clinical RLS diagnosis, across independent population cohorts in Switzerland and the elderly US MrOS cohort (2016-haba-rubio-plms-prevalence-genetic-determinants.md, PMID 26703954; 2015-winkelman-mros-plms-genetic-associations.md, PMID 26498236).
• RLS is genetically heterogeneous by phenotype. Twin-family studies in both children and adults consistently show that "painless" RLS is strongly associated with iron deficiency and shows a weaker monozygotic/dizygotic concordance difference, while "painful" RLS shows much stronger heritability signatures and clusters with other chronic pain syndromes (2020-champion-pediatric-twin-family-study.md, PMID 32950881; 2025-karroum-twin-family-painful-painless-phenotypes.md, PMID 41389619).
• RLS carries a real, population-level cardiovascular and mortality burden, though the size of that burden depends heavily on confounder adjustment. A 9-study meta-analysis (102,408 people) found RLS associated with hypertension (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.18-1.57) (2017-shen-meta-analysis-hypertension-risk.md, PMID 29134444). A prospective Nurses' Health Study analysis found coronary heart disease risk rose specifically with RLS duration >=3 years (HR 1.72) (2012-li-nurses-health-study-coronary-heart-disease.md, PMID 22967852). A large US veterans cohort found much larger unadjusted associations with mortality and vascular disease (2016-molnar-veterans-cohort-mortality-comorbidity.md, PMID 26377112), while a more rigorously confounder-adjusted meta-analysis found the cerebrovascular/cardiovascular signal disappeared after adjustment, leaving only all-cause mortality significantly elevated (adjusted HR 1.52) (2017-katsanos-meta-analysis-cardiovascular-mortality.md, PMID 28948600) -- see "Contested" below.
• RLS has real, quantifiable economic and quality-of-life burden. German ambulatory patients incurred ~EUR 2090 in total costs over 3 months, and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) was substantially below population norms (2010-dodel-health-economic-burden-germany.md, PMID 20297866).
• RLS is common and often severe in pregnancy, and family history/prior RLS/prior depression are significant risk factors, with a cumulative incidence of 34.7% by 12 months postpartum in a multicenter cohort (2026-hackethal-life-on-pregnancy-rls-cohort.md, PMID 40709818).
• RLS is not a uniformly progressive, one-way disease. A rare 10-year general-population follow-up found prevalence declined with age (21% to 15%) and about half of frequent sufferers spontaneously remitted to rare/no symptoms, though 7% developed new incident RLS over the same decade (2011-juuti-ten-year-natural-course-remission.md, PMID 21725862).
• RLS is markedly more prevalent in children/adolescents with ADHD (11-54% across 9 studies) than in the general pediatric population, per a 2025 systematic review (2025-ghayad-systematic-review-adhd-pediatric-rls.md, PMID 40981213).

Emerging C

• The genetic architecture keeps expanding, but newer loci individually carry small, unreplicated effects: a 2020 GWAS added 3 novel variants tied to obesity/smoking/alcohol via polygenic risk score (2020-didriksen-gwas-three-novel-variants.md, PMID 33239738, grade B for the core GWAS but the lifestyle-factor link is indirect/grade C); a transcriptome-wide association study nominated PPP3R1 as the first RLS gene directly tied to dopaminergic signaling (2020-akcimen-transcriptome-wide-association-study.md, PMID 32651461); and a 2026 preprint multi-ancestry GWAS found that European risk alleles at MEIS1/BTBD9 are less frequent or non-significant in African-ancestry cohorts, with distinct ancestry-specific loci emerging instead (2026-akcimen-multi-ancestry-gwas-preprint.md, PMID 42145650, not yet peer-reviewed).
• Novel candidate genes outside the classical iron-dopamine axis are being proposed but await replication, notably GLO1 (glyoxalase/dicarbonyl-stress pathway) from an entirely computational proteogenomic study (2026-zhang-glo1-candidate-causal-gene.md, PMID 42196425) and a Korean-specific UTRN signal that has not been replicated in larger, later multi-ancestry GWAS (2017-cho-korean-gwas-utrn-polymorphism.md, PMID 29209388).
• Genetic correlation places RLS in the same liability space as depression, neuroticism, and (inversely) intelligence (rg=0.35, 0.40, -0.20 respectively), and Mendelian randomization suggests RLS may be a causal risk factor for type 2 diabetes -- both intriguing but not yet clinically actionable findings (2024-akcimen-genomic-analysis-lmx1b-risk-locus.md, PMID 39078117; 2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md).

Contested or negative findings

• RLS and cerebrovascular/cardiovascular events: the "4x risk" figures do not survive rigorous confounder adjustment. The Katsanos et al. 2017 meta-analysis explicitly states it "does not provide evidence for an increased risk of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events" once confounders are accounted for, even though all-cause mortality remained elevated (2017-katsanos-meta-analysis-cardiovascular-mortality.md). This directly contrasts with the much larger, less-adjusted hazard ratios (~4x for CHD/stroke) reported in the veterans cohort (2016-molnar-veterans-cohort-mortality-comorbidity.md) -- the knowledge base should not present the larger figures as settled causal facts.
• Zinc elevation in RLS is real but probably not causal. Serum and brain zinc were ~20% higher in RLS patients, but zinc levels were not associated with the MEIS1 or BTBD9 risk genotypes, leading the authors to conclude zinc is unlikely to be a primary cause of RLS (2021-chen-zinc-restless-legs-syndrome.md, PMID 33175142).
• BTBD9 is not RLS-specific. The same risk alleles are associated with Tourette syndrome (particularly without comorbid OCD), showing BTBD9 has pleiotropic effects across motor/tic disorders and undermining its use as a specific RLS biomarker (2009-riviere-btbd9-tourette-syndrome-pleiotropy.md, PMID 19822783).
• Known common genetic variants explain less than 10% of RLS heritability despite MEIS1 being one of the strongest GWAS signals reported for any common disease -- a persistent "missing heritability" problem (2019-sarayloo-meis1-comprehensive-review.md, PMID 31551905).

Mechanistic picture in 5 bullet points

1. Common variants at MEIS1, BTBD9, MAP2K5/SKOR1, PTPRD, and (in the largest 2024 meta-analysis) 164 total loci confer additive genetic risk for RLS, with MEIS1 the single strongest common-variant risk factor identified for the disease (2007-winkelmann-gwas-meis1-btbd9-map2k5.md; 2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md).
2. At least one major risk gene (BTBD9) directly lowers serum ferritin per risk allele, and Meis1-deficient mice show elevated ferritin alongside dopaminergic/cholinergic circuit disruption, mechanistically tying common genetic risk to the iron-dopamine axis described in the project's core pathophysiology model (2007-stefansson-btbd9-periodic-limb-movements.md; 2020-lyu-meis1-knockout-mice-model.md).
3. Pathway analyses of GWAS hits implicate neurodevelopmental processes (axon guidance, synapse formation) and, more recently, glutamatergic signaling (GRIA1/GRIA4) and a first direct dopaminergic-pathway gene (PPP3R1), suggesting RLS biology extends beyond a simple "low iron -> low dopamine" story (2017-schormair-gwas-meta-analysis-thirteen-loci.md; 2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md; 2020-akcimen-transcriptome-wide-association-study.md).
4. RLS is phenotypically and likely mechanistically heterogeneous: an iron-deficiency-linked "painless" subtype with weaker heritability signal, versus a more strongly heritable "painful" subtype that clusters with other chronic pain conditions (2020-champion-pediatric-twin-family-study.md; 2025-karroum-twin-family-painful-painless-phenotypes.md).
5. Known common variants explain under 10% of heritability, and genetic architecture differs by ancestry (European MEIS1/BTBD9 signals attenuate in African-ancestry cohorts), meaning a large share of genetic risk -- and its population-level distribution -- remains unmapped (2019-sarayloo-meis1-comprehensive-review.md; 2026-akcimen-multi-ancestry-gwas-preprint.md).

Implications for a non-drug long-term plan for people currently on dopamine agonists or alpha-2-delta ligands

• Iron status is the single most genetically-grounded, actionable lever. Because BTBD9/MEIS1 risk variants are directly tied to lower ferritin and iron-handling disruption (2007-stefansson-btbd9-periodic-limb-movements.md; 2020-lyu-meis1-knockout-mice-model.md), thorough iron-status assessment (ferritin, transferrin saturation) and repletion when indicated remains the most mechanistically justified non-drug intervention available today, consistent with the project's anchor facts on AASM 2024 iron-therapy guidance -- but iron repletion should not be assumed to reverse genetic risk itself, only to correct a modifiable downstream contributor.
• Family/genetic history can help set expectations, not dictate treatment. A positive family history of RLS (present in ~19-51% of affected individuals across the twin/pregnancy studies reviewed here) signals a probably more heritable, possibly harder-to-fully-resolve course, particularly for "painful" RLS phenotypes, which may warrant a pain-management-informed approach rather than assuming iron repletion alone will suffice (2025-karroum-twin-family-painful-painless-phenotypes.md).
• Cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors should be actively screened and managed as part of any long-term plan, independent of which RLS treatment is used, given the consistent (if variably-sized) associations with hypertension, and the RLS-diabetes Mendelian-randomization signal (2017-shen-meta-analysis-hypertension-risk.md; 2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md). This is a reason to pursue effective symptom control by any safe means, not evidence that non-drug approaches are cardioprotective in themselves.
• Realistic expectation-setting is evidence-based, not just reassuring rhetoric. Population data show genuine year-over-year remission is possible with aging (about half of frequent sufferers improved substantially over 10 years) (2011-juuti-ten-year-natural-course-remission.md), which supports a patient-facing message that a taper attempt off dopamine agonists (always physician-supervised, per the project's non-negotiable honesty rules) is not fighting against an inevitably worsening genetic disease course for everyone.
• Comorbid depression/anxiety and ADHD (in children) should be assessed and treated in parallel, since genetic-correlation and twin-family data tie both to RLS liability rather than treating them as unrelated side issues (2024-akcimen-genomic-analysis-lmx1b-risk-locus.md; 2025-ghayad-systematic-review-adhd-pediatric-rls.md).

Open questions

• Why do known common variants explain under 10% of RLS heritability, and what accounts for the "missing heritability" (rare variants? gene-environment interaction? structural variation)?
• Do ancestry-specific genetic loci (identified in the 2026 multi-ancestry preprint) translate into different optimal non-drug management strategies (e.g., different iron thresholds) across populations, or purely different discovery power?
• Is the RLS-diabetes causal relationship (Mendelian randomization, 2024 Nature Genetics) confirmed by prospective clinical studies, and if so, does treating RLS reduce diabetes incidence?
• Can the "painful" vs. "painless" RLS genetic subtypes be reliably distinguished in clinical practice (e.g., via genotyping or biomarkers) to personalize a non-drug protocol from the outset, rather than only in retrospective twin-family research?
• What explains the large discrepancy between the veterans-cohort cardiovascular hazard ratios (~4x) and the much smaller, non-significant confounder-adjusted meta-analytic estimates -- is it population-specific confounding, RLS-severity differences, or genuine effect-modification?
• Does successful iron repletion or non-drug management measurably shift any of the RLS-associated GWAS-identified biological pathways (glutamatergic signaling, neurodevelopmental genes), or are these purely static risk markers?

Notes in this topic

• 2005-allen-rest-general-population-prevalence.md -- REST study: clinically significant RLS affects 2.7% of adults and is markedly underdiagnosed (PMID 15956009).
• 2007-stefansson-btbd9-periodic-limb-movements.md -- Founding Icelandic GWAS linking BTBD9 to RLS/PLMS and lower serum ferritin (PMID 17634447).
• 2007-winkelmann-gwas-meis1-btbd9-map2k5.md -- Founding German GWAS identifying MEIS1, BTBD9, and MAP2K5/LBXCOR1 as RLS risk loci (PMID 17637780).
• 2009-riviere-btbd9-tourette-syndrome-pleiotropy.md -- BTBD9 risk alleles also associate with Tourette syndrome, showing pleiotropy (PMID 19822783).
• 2010-dodel-health-economic-burden-germany.md -- German ambulatory RLS patients incur ~EUR 2090/3-months in costs and reduced quality of life (PMID 20297866).
• 2011-juuti-ten-year-natural-course-remission.md -- 10-year population follow-up: RLS prevalence fell with age and about half of sufferers remitted (PMID 21725862).
• 2012-li-nurses-health-study-coronary-heart-disease.md -- Nurses' Health Study: coronary heart disease risk rises with RLS duration >=3 years (PMID 22967852).
• 2015-winkelman-mros-plms-genetic-associations.md -- MrOS elderly-men cohort confirms BTBD9/MEIS1/MAP2K5 associations with periodic limb movements (PMID 26498236).
• 2016-haba-rubio-plms-prevalence-genetic-determinants.md -- HypnoLaus population cohort: PLMS>15 prevalence 28.6%, linked to BTBD9/TOX3/MEIS1 SNPs (PMID 26703954).
• 2016-molnar-veterans-cohort-mortality-comorbidity.md -- US veterans cohort: large unadjusted associations of incident RLS with mortality, CHD, stroke, CKD (PMID 26377112).
• 2017-cho-korean-gwas-utrn-polymorphism.md -- Korean GWAS proposes a novel UTRN signal alongside replicated BTBD9 association (PMID 29209388).
• 2017-katsanos-meta-analysis-cardiovascular-mortality.md -- Meta-analysis: RLS-CV event link disappears after adjustment; mortality link persists (PMID 28948600).
• 2017-schormair-gwas-meta-analysis-thirteen-loci.md -- Lancet Neurology meta-analysis: 19 total risk loci, MEIS1 OR 1.92 (PMID 29029846).
• 2017-shen-meta-analysis-hypertension-risk.md -- Meta-analysis of 9 studies: RLS associated with hypertension, OR 1.36 (PMID 29134444).
• 2019-sarayloo-meis1-comprehensive-review.md -- Review: known variants explain <10% of RLS heritability despite MEIS1's strong signal (PMID 31551905).
• 2020-akcimen-transcriptome-wide-association-study.md -- TWAS nominates PPP3R1 as first RLS gene tied directly to dopaminergic pathways (PMID 32651461).
• 2020-champion-pediatric-twin-family-study.md -- Pediatric twin study: painful RLS is heritable, painless RLS is iron-deficiency-linked (PMID 32950881).
• 2020-didriksen-gwas-three-novel-variants.md -- Large GWAS adds 3 novel loci and links polygenic risk to obesity/smoking/alcohol (PMID 33239738).
• 2020-lyu-meis1-knockout-mice-model.md -- Meis1-knockout mice show RLS-compatible hyperactivity, elevated ferritin, dopaminergic disruption (PMID 32910473).
• 2021-chen-zinc-restless-legs-syndrome.md -- Zinc elevated ~20% in RLS but not genotype-linked; unlikely primary cause (PMID 33175142).
• 2024-akcimen-genomic-analysis-lmx1b-risk-locus.md -- Novel LMX1B locus; genetic correlation of RLS with depression, neuroticism, intelligence (PMID 39078117).
• 2024-schormair-genome-wide-meta-analysis-164-loci.md -- Largest RLS GWAS to date: 164 loci, glutamate-receptor genes, RLS-diabetes Mendelian randomization (PMID 38839884).
• 2025-ghayad-systematic-review-adhd-pediatric-rls.md -- Systematic review: RLS prevalence 11-54% in pediatric ADHD populations (PMID 40981213).
• 2025-karroum-twin-family-painful-painless-phenotypes.md -- Adult twin study confirms painful/painless RLS phenotype split and distinct comorbidity profiles (PMID 41389619).
• 2026-akcimen-multi-ancestry-gwas-preprint.md -- First multi-ancestry RLS GWAS: European risk alleles attenuate in African ancestry; new ancestry-specific loci (PMID 42145650, preprint).
• 2026-hackethal-life-on-pregnancy-rls-cohort.md -- Life-ON cohort: 26% antenatal RLS prevalence, 34.7% cumulative incidence to 12 months postpartum (PMID 40709818).
• 2026-zhang-glo1-candidate-causal-gene.md -- Computational proteogenomics nominates GLO1 as a novel candidate causal gene/drug target (PMID 42196425).

Additional linked notes (2026-09 quality pass)

These notes carry this topic tag but are not yet woven into the prose synthesis above; listed here so they are discoverable and counted in catalog.json rather than orphaned.

• 2003-bhowmik-aiims-hemodialysis-rls-india.md (2003) - Restless legs syndrome in hemodialysis patients in India: a case controlled study: In this early case-controlled Indian study from AIIMS New Delhi, RLS was present in 6.6% of 121 hemodialysis patients versus 0% of 99 healthy controls, a prevalence much lower than typically reported from Western dial...
• 2005-tison-instant-study-france-prevalence.md (2005) - Epidemiology of restless legs syndrome in French adults: a nationwide survey: the INSTANT Study: The INSTANT Study is the landmark French national prevalence survey for RLS: a face-to-face, population-based interview of 10,263 French adults found a 12-month prevalence of RLS symptoms of 8.5% (95% CI 8.0-9.0%), wi...
• 2009-al-jahdali-dialysis-rls-prevalence.md (2009) - Restless legs syndrome in patients on dialysis: Among 227 Saudi patients on maintenance dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) at two centers (Riyadh, Jeddah), overall RLS prevalence was 50.22% (53.7% of affected patients male, 46.3% female), markedly highe...
• 2011-lindner-restless-legs-review-hungarian.md (2011) - [Restless legs syndrome: the most prevalent 'unknown' disorder]: This Hungarian-language review (Semmelweis University, Budapest, Department of Behavioural Sciences/Sleep Medicine Working Group) frames RLS as the "most prevalent unknown disorder," citing a 5-10% general-population ...
• 2011-moskovko-elderly-rls-underdiagnosed-review.md (2011) - Syndrom nespokiynykh nih v osib starshoho ta pokhyloho viku: nedootsinenyi ta nedolikovanyi 'tinovyi' fenomen (Restless legs syndrome in the elderly: an underestimated and undertreated 'shadow' phenomenon): A Ukrainian academic review (Vinnytsia National Pirogov Memorial Medical University) argues RLS in older adults is systematically under-recognized because patients present with nonspecific sleep complaints rather than...
• 2012-vavrova-multiple-sclerosis-genetic-rls-czech.md (2012) - Restless legs syndrome in Czech patients with multiple sclerosis: an epidemiological and genetic study: Among 765 Czech patients with multiple sclerosis, RLS was confirmed (by lifetime four-criteria interview) in 32.1% (95% CI 28.7-35.4%) - far above general-population RLS prevalence. In a genetic sub-study of 642 subje...
• 2015-hanewinckel-rotterdam-study-adl-impairment.md (2015) - The impact of restless legs syndrome on physical functioning in a community-dwelling population of middle-aged and elderly people: In the large Dutch population-based Rotterdam Study, RLS was present in 13.7% of 5,960 participants aged 45+. People with RLS had significantly more impairment in basic activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumenta...
• 2015-ruppert-willis-ekbom-disease-review.md (2015) - [Restless legs syndrome--Willis-Ekbom disease]: A French clinical review (Strasbourg sleep-medicine group, Bourgin) for La Revue du praticien summarising RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease diagnosis, biomarkers and treatment for French-speaking physicians, explicitly naming ...
• 2015-wali-saudi-hemodialysis-rls-prevalence.md (2015) - Restless legs syndrome among Saudi end-stage renal disease patients on hemodialysis: In a cross-sectional study of 355 hemodialysis patients across three centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) was 19.4%, with most affected patients having moderate-to-severe dis...
• 2016-minar-multiple-sclerosis-rls-slovak.md (2016) - Higher prevalence of restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease in multiple sclerosis patients is related to spinal cord lesions: In this Slovak cohort of 200 MS patients, 26% (95% CI approx 20-32%, exact CI not reported) met RLS criteria; 44% of RLS-positive patients had no family history of RLS and had developed it after MS onset (i.e., likely...
• 2017-didriksen-danish-blood-donor-rls-prevalence.md (2017) - Prevalence of restless legs syndrome and associated factors in an otherwise healthy population: results from the Danish Blood Donor Study: In this large Danish Blood Donor Study cohort, RLS prevalence was 7.2% in women and 4.5% in men, and was significantly associated with female sex, older age, smoking, frequent alcohol consumption, and low education — ...
• 2018-waage-norwegian-nurses-shift-work-rls.md (2018) - Restless Legs Syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease Is Prevalent in Working Nurses, but Seems Not to Be Associated with Shift Work Schedules: Among 1,788 Norwegian nurses, overall RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease prevalence was 26.8% — notably high — but did not differ significantly across day, two-shift, night, or three-shift work schedules; however, RLS/WED was s...
• 2019-lebrato-hernandez-rls-multiple-sclerosis-spain.md (2019) - Restless legs syndrome in patients with multiple sclerosis: evaluation of risk factors and clinical impact: A Spanish cohort study (Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio, Sevilla) of 120 multiple sclerosis patients found RLS prevalence of 23.3%, significantly associated with a recent relapse, shorter disease progression t...
• 2020-bartl-update-restless-legs-syndrom.md (2020) - [Update on restless legs syndrome]: A narrative update for German neurologists (Der Nervenarzt) from the Paracelsus-Elena Klinik Kassel/Gottingen group (Trenkwalder's team), summarising RLS diagnosis, drug options and the augmentation problem for clinic...
• 2021-gitai-sca3-ataxia-iron-deficiency.md (2021) - Which Factors in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 Patients Are Associated with Restless Legs Syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease?: RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease was found in 27.5% of Brazilian SCA3 (Machado-Joseph disease) patients versus 2.5% of controls (p=0.003); among SCA3 patients, RLS was associated with female sex, later ataxia symptom onset (a...
• 2021-katunina-rls-review-russia.md (2021) - Restless legs syndrome: A Russian-authored narrative review (Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University / Federal Center of Brain Research and Neurotechnologies, Moscow) covers RLS epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, clini...
• 2022-aldinio-rls-polysomnography-argentina.md (2022) - [Identification of restless legs syndrome in polysomnography studies and its association with other variables]: A descriptive cross-sectional Argentine study of 406 adults referred for polysomnography (Sanatorio de la Trinidad Mitre, Buenos Aires) found RLS in 36.7% (n=149) - a notably high prevalence versus general-population ...
• 2022-bellur-adolescents-rls-bengaluru.md (2022) - Prevalence and Predictors of Restless Leg Syndrome in Adolescents and Young Adults of Bengaluru City, India: A Cross-Sectional Study: In a large cross-sectional study of 4,211 adolescents/young adults in Bengaluru, India, RLS prevalence was 8.36% (95% CI 7.54-9.24), alongside 36.67% with poor sleep quality and 39.87% with excessive daytime sleepines...
• 2022-joseph-mangalore-general-population-rls.md (2022) - Study on restless leg syndrome and its relationship with quality of sleep among the general population of Mangalore, India: In a community-based online survey of 202 residents of Mangalore, India, RLS prevalence was 11.9% (24/202), higher than earlier Indian estimates; diabetes mellitus and a family history of RLS were independently associ...
• 2022-khachatryan-european-contribution-review.md (2022) - Restless legs syndrome: Over 50 years of European contribution: This narrative review, co-authored by Italian sleep researcher Raffaele Ferri (Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina) and Italian/Swiss researcher Mauro Manconi, traces RLS from Thomas Willis (17th century) and Karl-A...
• 2023-brostrom-worldwide-rls-prevalence-meta-analysis.md (2023) - Worldwide estimation of restless legs syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence in the general adult population: This PROSPERO-registered systematic review and meta-analysis (97 studies, 483,079 participants across 33 countries) found a publication-bias-corrected overall pooled RLS prevalence of 3% (95% CI 1.4-3.8%) in the gener...
• 2024-kalinderi-genetic-sleep-parkinsons.md (2024) - The Genetic Landscape of Sleep Disorders in Parkinson's Disease: This review by researchers at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the International Hellenic University summarizes current knowledge on genetic contributors to sleep disorders in Parkinson's disease — including R...
• 2024-liampas-heliad-cognitive-rls.md (2024) - Longitudinal Cognitive Trajectories in Older Adults with Restless Legs Syndrome or Willis-Ekbom Disease: In the Greek population-based HELIAD cohort (n = 1003, mean age 72.9 ± 4.9 years, followed a mean of 3.09 ± 0.85 years), 81 participants had RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease at baseline. Global cognition, memory, attention, e...
• 2024-stelzer-rls-osa-comorbidity-brazil.md (2024) - Urges to move and struggles to breathe: restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea: In this Brazilian cohort of 490 adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), 18.6% (n=91) also met 2014 IRLSSG criteria for RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease, and RLS was previously diagnosed in only 13.2% of those affected (i.e...
• 2025-valiensi-argentina-sleep-survey-rls.md (2025) - Quality analysis and other things related to the sleep of Argentines during the last days of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional study: An Argentine national online cross-sectional survey (n=2,081, mean age 37+-12) conducted in the final weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic declaration found 14.8% of respondents reported restless legs syndrome symptoms, wit...