Iron therapy (oral and IV)

Synthesis of the evidence on oral and intravenous iron treatment for RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease: efficacy, dosing, formulation differences, safety (notably hypophosphatemia), and special populations (children, pregnancy, chronic kidney disease). All claims below cite a study note filename (in knowledge-base/studies/) or a PMID. Medical disclaimer: nothing here is individual medical advice; iron therapy (especially IV) requires clinician-ordered lab work (ferritin, transferrin saturation, phosphate) and supervision, and any change to dopamine-agonist or alpha-2-delta-ligand dosing must be made only under physician supervision and never stopped abruptly (dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome, DAWS, can be severe).

What is established (grade A/B)

• Iron therapy (oral or IV, pooled) improves RLS severity across randomized trials: a Cochrane review of 10 trials (428 patients) found an IRLS mean difference of -3.78 (95% CI -6.25 to -1.31) versus placebo with no significant increase in adverse events (2019-trotti-cochrane-iron-review.md), and an independent meta-analysis of 10 RCTs found a similar IRLS WMD of -3.55 (95% CI -5.41 to -1.68) and a risk ratio of 2.16 for clinically meaningful improvement (2019-avni-iron-supplementation-meta-analysis.md).
• IV ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) at a total dose of 1000 mg is specifically and repeatedly effective: Allen 2011 (IRLS -8.9 vs -4.0, p=0.040; 2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md), Cho 2016 (IRLS -11.9 vs -7.88, p=0.03, with 37.5% of treated patients completely medication-free at 30 weeks; 2016-cho-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct-remitters.md), and Earley 2024 (n=209; IRLS -8.0 vs -4.8, p=0.0036; 2024-earley-iv-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct.md) all confirm benefit, and two independent meta-analyses agree (Qadri 2024, 537 patients, WMD -6.03, p=0.004, 2024-qadri-iv-fcm-meta-analysis.md; Yang 2019, 2019-yang-iv-iron-meta-analysis.md, though see methodological caveats below).
• Oral iron works too, not only IV: the first placebo-controlled oral-iron RCT found IRLS -10.3 vs -1.14 (p=0.01) in patients with low-normal ferritin (2009-wang-oral-ferrous-sulfate-rct.md), and a head-to-head trial found oral iron matched pramipexole (46.7% response in both arms; 2013-lee-oral-iron-vs-pramipexole-rct.md).
• Guideline consensus gives evidence-graded ferritin/transferrin-saturation (TSAT) thresholds: the 2018 IRLSSG task force recommends oral iron for ferritin <=75 ug/L and positions FCM as a potential first-line option when ferritin is <300 ug/L (2018-allen-irlssg-iron-treatment-guidelines.md); the 2025 AASM guideline strongly recommends IV FCM and directs iron testing/treatment in all patients with clinically significant RLS regardless of anemia (2025-winkelman-aasm-guideline-rls.md).
• Brain iron measurably rises with IV iron treatment, and this rise correlates with symptom improvement: a placebo-controlled RCT found FCM raised thalamic/nigral/pulvinar iron on QSM/R2*, correlating with IRLS improvement in the thalamus (2023-bae-fcm-qsm-rct.md); an open-label longitudinal study replicated caudate/putamen/pulvinar QSM changes correlating with symptom change (2023-kim-qsm-longitudinal-iron-therapy.md).
• IV iron benefits secondary (uremic) RLS as well as idiopathic RLS: a double-blind RCT in hemodialysis/ESRD patients found significant improvement at 1-2 weeks after a single 1000 mg iron dextran infusion, though the effect faded by 4 weeks (2004-sloand-iv-iron-dextran-esrd-rct.md).

Emerging C

• Response to IV iron is not reliably predicted by baseline serum/CSF iron levels; better predictors are more subtle. Transcranial-sonography-measured substantia nigra echogenicity predicts response magnitude (severely hypoechogenic patients showed a larger IRLS drop after IV iron; 2019-garcia-malo-tcs-iron-therapy-predictor.md). Adequate post-infusion correction of anemia (not simply having received an infusion) predicts durable response (responders' post-treatment hemoglobin 12.1 vs 11.3 g/dL in non-responders, p=0.03; 2014-mehmood-iv-iron-response-predictors.md). A 2026 narrative review proposes TSAT <=35% as a more sensitive predictor than ferritin alone, though this is not yet independently validated in a primary trial (2026-phan-iron-therapy-narrative-review.md).
• Pediatric IV FCM (retrospective, uncontrolled) produces large ferritin gains and clinical improvement in children with RLS/PLMD (2021-delrosso-pediatric-iv-fcm-retrospective.md) and in autism-spectrum children who cannot tolerate oral iron (2022-delrosso-asd-pediatric-iv-fcm.md); for oral iron in children, adherence (not any baseline biological factor) is the main determinant of whether ferritin actually rises, and side effects (chiefly constipation) are the main barrier to adherence (2020-delrosso-pediatric-oral-iron-ferritin-response.md).
• Alternate-day, single-morning-dose oral iron maximizes fractional absorption by avoiding the ~24-hour hepcidin spike triggered by a preceding dose - demonstrated mechanistically in iron-depleted (non-RLS) women, not yet tested as an RLS-specific dosing trial (2017-stoffel-alternate-day-iron-absorption.md).
• Oral and IV iron look comparably effective once iron deficiency is corrected, in populations where RLS was a secondary/screened outcome rather than the primary diagnosis: blood-donor RCTs found no significant difference in RLS/symptom outcome between routes (2020-macher-ironwoman-secondary-analysis-rls.md), though a separate blood-donor RCT found IV iron sucrose produced lower RLS severity scores than oral iron, especially in women under 50 (2010-birgegard-blood-donors-iv-vs-oral-iron.md). In pregnancy, IV iron (ferric derisomaltose) more reliably corrected iron deficiency/anemia than oral iron, though RLS itself was not a measured outcome in that trial (2022-hansen-iv-vs-oral-iron-pregnancy-rct.md).
• CKD-associated RLS treatment evidence beyond the single Sloand RCT remains sparse, and iron/ferritin correlations with CKD-RLS severity are inconsistent across the reviewed literature (2023-safarpour-ckd-rls-systematic-review.md).

Contested or negative findings

• Low-dose IV iron does not work: a single 500 mg FCM dose (half the effective 1000 mg total dose) failed to significantly beat placebo (IRLS -8.3 vs -4.8, p=0.100), establishing a minimum effective total-dose threshold around 1000 mg (2018-cho-fcm-500mg-dose-rct.md).
• Earlier IV iron sucrose trials largely failed to show durable benefit, which is explicitly why later trials shifted to testing ferric carboxymaltose instead (referenced in 2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md).
• A single 1000 mg FCM dose can miss its own pre-specified primary endpoint at an early timepoint (week 4: p=0.163) while reaching significance later (week 12: p=0.021), showing that early (4-week) assessment can produce a false-negative read on IV iron efficacy (2017-trenkwalder-fcm-nonanemic-rct.md).
• A pooled analysis (Yang 2019) reports odds-ratio-based effect sizes (OR 4.71, and an "OR" of 6.75 for a continuous IRLS-score change) that are difficult to reconcile with standard statistical practice for a continuous outcome, and it drew partly on non-independently-verifiable Chinese-language sources; treat its findings as directionally supportive rather than precise, and prefer the more conservative Trotti 2019 and Avni 2019 meta-analyses for effect-size estimates (2019-yang-iv-iron-meta-analysis.md).
• IV iron, specifically FCM, causes hypophosphatemia in a meaningful subset of patients via a formulation-specific FGF23 mechanism, not a general IV-iron class effect: in a head-to-head RCT, 10 women given FCM developed hypophosphatemia (<2.0 mg/dL) versus none given an equivalent elemental dose of iron dextran (2013-wolf-fgf23-hypophosphatemia-iron-rct.md) - a safety negative arguing against unmonitored repeat FCM dosing.
• Expert opinion on oral iron's evidence strength genuinely diverged circa 2017-2018: the same year the IRLSSG called oral iron "possibly effective" below a ferritin threshold, the Movement Disorder Society's evidence-based review rated oral iron "nonefficacious in iron-sufficient subjects" and stated its benefit in iron-insufficient patients had "not [been] adequately evaluated" within the RCTs it accepted (2018-winkelmann-mds-evidence-based-review.md vs 2018-allen-irlssg-iron-treatment-guidelines.md).

Mechanistic picture in 5 bullet points

1. RLS is linked to a brain (not necessarily systemic) iron-deficiency state; correcting peripheral iron (ferritin/TSAT) measurably raises brain iron on QSM/R2* imaging, and that rise correlates with symptom improvement (2023-bae-fcm-qsm-rct.md, 2023-kim-qsm-longitudinal-iron-therapy.md).
2. Oral iron absorption is capped by hepcidin: an oral dose above roughly 60 mg (iron-depleted) or 100 mg (anemic) acutely raises serum hepcidin for about 24 hours, blocking absorption from a same-day or next-day dose - so single-morning, alternate-day dosing maximizes fractional absorption per unit of iron given (2017-stoffel-alternate-day-iron-absorption.md).
3. Not all IV iron formulations behave alike: low-labile-iron-release complexes (ferric carboxymaltose, low-molecular-weight iron dextran) achieve durable RLS benefit where older iron sucrose formulations largely failed, consistent with formulation-dependent differences in iron bioavailability for brain uptake (2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md, 2013-cho-lmw-iron-dextran-dose-response.md).
4. Ferric carboxymaltose's carbohydrate shell transiently blocks proteolytic degradation of FGF23, causing a spike in intact FGF23 that drives renal phosphate wasting and hypophosphatemia - a mechanism specific to that formulation and not shared by iron dextran (2013-wolf-fgf23-hypophosphatemia-iron-rct.md).
5. Response to iron is threshold- and completeness-dependent rather than linear: 500 mg FCM is subtherapeutic while 1000 mg is effective (2018-cho-fcm-500mg-dose-rct.md), and full correction of anemia - not merely receiving an infusion - appears necessary for a durable response in anemia-associated RLS (2014-mehmood-iv-iron-response-predictors.md).

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

• Check ferritin and TSAT as a first, low-risk step regardless of anemia status; per AASM/IRLSSG, treat if ferritin <=75 ug/L or TSAT <20% (2025-winkelman-aasm-guideline-rls.md, 2018-allen-irlssg-iron-treatment-guidelines.md).
• If ferritin is low-normal to moderately low and oral iron is tolerated, a trial of oral iron is reasonable and evidence-supported even without frank anemia (2009-wang-oral-ferrous-sulfate-rct.md, 2019-avni-iron-supplementation-meta-analysis.md). Dose it as a single morning dose on alternate days (not daily/divided) to maximize absorption per the hepcidin mechanism (2017-stoffel-alternate-day-iron-absorption.md), and anticipate that tolerability (constipation, GI upset), not biology, is the main determinant of whether ferritin actually rises (2020-delrosso-pediatric-oral-iron-ferritin-response.md - pediatric data; mechanism plausibly generalizes to adults).
• If ferritin is under the IV-iron threshold, oral iron fails or is not tolerated, or a faster response is wanted while tapering a dopamine agonist, IV FCM at a total dose of 1000 mg (not 500 mg) is the best-evidenced option (2018-cho-fcm-500mg-dose-rct.md, 2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md, 2024-earley-iv-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct.md). Expect benefit may take up to 12 weeks to become clearly apparent - do not judge it a failure at 4 weeks (2017-trenkwalder-fcm-nonanemic-rct.md).
• IV iron given alongside a protocol-driven medication taper reduces the need for medication "rescue" during the taper (32.7% vs 59.4% needing rescue, p=0.0002; 2024-earley-iv-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct.md) - supporting iron repletion as one component of, not a replacement for, a physician-supervised taper (never stop a dopamine agonist abruptly; see the existing DAWS review, 2013-nirenberg-dopamine-agonist-withdrawal-review.md).
• Monitor serum phosphate after FCM infusions, particularly with repeated dosing, given the formulation-specific hypophosphatemia mechanism, and consider an iron dextran-class alternative if recurrent hypophosphatemia occurs (2013-wolf-fgf23-hypophosphatemia-iron-rct.md).
• Set realistic, honest expectations: a meaningful minority of iron-treated patients become completely medication-free for months (37.5% at 30 weeks in one RCT, 2016-cho-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct-remitters.md; 25-29% in another, 2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md), so iron repletion is a real chance at reducing or eliminating medication need - but most patients are not full remitters, and many will still need an alpha-2-delta ligand or non-drug measures alongside it.
• Adjust for special populations: with CKD/dialysis, expect IV iron benefit may be more transient and re-dosing may be needed sooner (2004-sloand-iv-iron-dextran-esrd-rct.md, 2023-safarpour-ckd-rls-systematic-review.md); in pregnancy, iron deficiency is a very plausible driver of new/worsened RLS and IV iron corrects it more reliably than oral iron, though RLS-specific trial data in pregnancy are still lacking (2022-hansen-iv-vs-oral-iron-pregnancy-rct.md).

Open questions

• No RCT has established an optimal re-dosing interval/schedule for IV iron in idiopathic RLS; existing durability data (benefit lasting 1-22 months in one cohort) come from open-label, uncontrolled designs (2013-cho-lmw-iron-dextran-dose-response.md).
• Whether the Stoffel alternate-day oral-dosing strategy (validated in iron-depleted non-RLS women) actually improves RLS symptom outcomes specifically has not been tested in an RLS trial (2017-stoffel-alternate-day-iron-absorption.md) - a clear, low-risk trial opportunity.
• The TSAT <=35% response predictor proposed in the 2026 narrative review has not been validated against a primary dataset in this knowledge base (2026-phan-iron-therapy-narrative-review.md).
• RLS-specific outcomes of IV versus oral iron in pregnancy have not been directly studied in a trial designed for that purpose (2022-hansen-iv-vs-oral-iron-pregnancy-rct.md measured anemia/fatigue/QoL, not RLS).
• A possible race/ethnicity modifier of IV iron response was suggested but statistically underpowered (n=5 in the smaller subgroup) and needs a properly powered study (2014-mehmood-iv-iron-response-predictors.md).
• Long-term (>1 year) safety of repeated FCM dosing for chronic RLS management (as opposed to one-off anemia correction) is not established; existing hypophosphatemia data are short-term/transient only (2013-wolf-fgf23-hypophosphatemia-iron-rct.md).
• Pediatric IV iron efficacy has not been tested in a randomized, placebo-controlled design; existing data are retrospective case series only (2021-delrosso-pediatric-iv-fcm-retrospective.md, 2022-delrosso-asd-pediatric-iv-fcm.md), consistent with the IRLSSG 2018 consensus that pediatric evidence remains at its lowest quality tier (2018-allen-irlssg-iron-treatment-guidelines.md).

Notes in this topic

• 2018-allen-irlssg-iron-treatment-guidelines.md - IRLSSG task force consensus: FCM 1000mg possible first-line if ferritin <300; oral iron for ferritin <=75; pediatric evidence very weak.
• 2011-allen-fcm-multicenter-preliminary-rct.md - First positive divided-dose FCM RCT (IRLS -8.9 vs -4.0, p=0.040); 25% medication-free at 24 weeks.
• 2017-trenkwalder-fcm-nonanemic-rct.md - Single 1000mg FCM dose missed week-4 endpoint but became significant by week 12.
• 2018-cho-fcm-500mg-dose-rct.md - 500mg FCM (half dose) failed to beat placebo - establishes ~1000mg minimum effective dose.
• 2009-wang-oral-ferrous-sulfate-rct.md - First placebo-controlled oral-iron RCT; IRLS -10.3 vs -1.14, p=0.01, in low-normal-ferritin patients.
• 2004-sloand-iv-iron-dextran-esrd-rct.md - IV iron dextran RCT in hemodialysis RLS; significant but transient (faded by week 4) benefit.
• 2013-cho-lmw-iron-dextran-dose-response.md - Open-label LMW iron dextran; 68% responded, benefit lasted 1-22 months, response unpredictable from baseline labs.
• 2014-mehmood-iv-iron-response-predictors.md - Retrospective IDA-RLS case series; adequate post-treatment hemoglobin correction predicts durable response.
• 2013-lee-oral-iron-vs-pramipexole-rct.md - Head-to-head RCT: oral iron matched pramipexole (46.7% response both arms).
• 2019-avni-iron-supplementation-meta-analysis.md - Meta-analysis (10 RCTs): IRLS WMD -3.55; IV FCM subgroup WMD -2.79.
• 2019-yang-iv-iron-meta-analysis.md - Meta-analysis reporting very large OR-based effect sizes; methodologically flagged/caveated in this synthesis.
• 2021-delrosso-pediatric-iv-fcm-retrospective.md - Largest pediatric IV FCM case series (n=39); ferritin and CGI both improved markedly.
• 2022-delrosso-asd-pediatric-iv-fcm.md - IV FCM in autism-spectrum children unable to tolerate oral iron; 84.2% improved.
• 2010-birgegard-blood-donors-iv-vs-oral-iron.md - Blood-donor RCT: IV iron sucrose outperformed oral iron for RLS severity.
• 2020-macher-ironwoman-secondary-analysis-rls.md - Blood-donor RCT secondary analysis: oral and IV iron comparably reduced RLS prevalence/severity.
• 2017-stoffel-alternate-day-iron-absorption.md - Mechanistic RCT (non-RLS): alternate-day, single-morning oral dosing maximizes iron absorption via hepcidin avoidance.
• 2013-wolf-fgf23-hypophosphatemia-iron-rct.md - Mechanistic RCT (non-RLS): FCM (not iron dextran) causes transient hypophosphatemia via an FGF23 mechanism.
• 2018-winkelmann-mds-evidence-based-review.md - MDS evidence-based review: oral iron rated "nonefficacious" in iron-sufficient subjects; IV FCM "likely efficacious."
• 2023-safarpour-ckd-rls-systematic-review.md - Systematic review of CKD-associated RLS; iron-severity correlations inconsistent across studies.
• 2020-delrosso-pediatric-oral-iron-ferritin-response.md - Pediatric cohort: adherence (not biology) predicts oral-iron ferritin response.
• 2026-phan-iron-therapy-narrative-review.md - Recent narrative review proposing TSAT <=35% as a response predictor; not yet independently validated.
• 2022-hansen-iv-vs-oral-iron-pregnancy-rct.md - Pregnancy RCT: IV ferric derisomaltose outperformed oral iron for anemia correction (RLS not a measured outcome).
• 2019-garcia-malo-tcs-iron-therapy-predictor.md (pre-existing) - Transcranial sonography predicts IV iron response magnitude.
• 2023-bae-fcm-qsm-rct.md (pre-existing) - Placebo-controlled RCT linking FCM, symptom improvement, and QSM-measured brain iron increase.
• 2023-kim-qsm-longitudinal-iron-therapy.md (pre-existing) - Longitudinal QSM study: brain iron changes after IV iron correlate with symptom improvement.
• 2025-winkelman-aasm-guideline-rls.md (pre-existing) - AASM 2024/2025 guideline: strong recommendation for IV FCM; ferritin/TSAT testing routine.
• 2016-cho-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct-remitters.md (pre-existing) - FCM RCT: 37.5% of treated patients completely medication-free at 30 weeks.
• 2019-trotti-cochrane-iron-review.md (pre-existing) - Cochrane meta-analysis (10 trials, 428 patients): IRLS MD -3.78 versus placebo.
• 2024-earley-iv-ferric-carboxymaltose-rct.md (pre-existing) - Large FCM RCT (n=209) combined with protocol-driven medication taper.
• 2024-qadri-iv-fcm-meta-analysis.md (pre-existing) - Meta-analysis of 7 RCTs (537 patients): IRLS WMD -6.03.
• 2020-wang-qsm-hemodialysis-iron.md (pre-existing) - QSM study of regional brain iron differences in hemodialysis patients with vs without RLS.
• 2016-garcia-borreguero-augmentation-prevention-treatment-guidelines.md (pre-existing, cross-listed with the augmentation topic) - IRLSSG/EURLSSG augmentation guideline: correcting low iron stores is part of first-line augmentation prevention and management.

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.

• 2004-mucsi-dialysis-rls-hungary.md (2004) - Sleep disorders and illness intrusiveness in patients on chronic dialysis: In a Hungarian sample of chronic dialysis patients, 65% reported symptoms of at least one specific sleep disorder; insomnia was most common (49%), followed by sleep apnoea (32%) and restless legs syndrome (15%). Comor...
• 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 — ...
• 2017-yachnik-aan-guideline-translation-ukraine.md (2017) - Kerivnytstvo z likuvannya syndromu nespokiynykh nih u doroslykh (Guideline for the treatment of restless legs syndrome in adults; Ukrainian-language summary of the AAN 2016 subcommittee report): This is a Ukrainian-language digest, prepared for local clinicians, of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2016 practice guideline on RLS management, making AAN-graded recommendations accessible in Ukrainian befor...
• 2021-earley-ppi-h2-antagonist-rls-denmark-us.md (2021) - Association of proton pump inhibitor and histamine H2-receptor antagonists with restless legs syndrome: Combining the US REDS-III and Danish Blood Donor Study (DBDS) cohorts, use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and/or histamine H2-receptor antagonists (H2As) — both known to impair iron absorption — was significantly as...
• 2021-erdem-thalassemia-major-rls-prevalence-turkey.md (2021) - Restless leg syndrome in adult patients with beta-thalassemia major: In this Antalya cohort of 121 adults with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia major (a population with chronically elevated serum ferritin from iron overload, not deficiency), RLS prevalence was only 5% — similar t...
• 2021-filchenko-osteoarthritis-esrd-hemodialysis-rls-cohort.md (2021) - Self-reported sleep and wake disorders in patients with osteoarthrosis and end-stage renal disease: In this St. Petersburg (Pavlov/Almazov centres) pilot case-control study, RLS prevalence was markedly higher in hemodialysis patients with osteoarthritis than in osteoarthritis patients without chronic kidney disease ...
• 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...
• 2022-amrollahi-aromatherapy-massage-hemodialysis-rls.md (2022) - Effects of aromatherapy massage on the severity of restless legs syndrome in hemodialysis patients: A randomized clinical trial: An Iranian RCT in 42 hemodialysis patients found that 4 weeks of effleurage massage with lavender essential oil significantly reduced RLS severity compared with control (p = 0.0001 between groups; p = 0.0001 pre- vs p...
• 2022-bava-aiims-blood-donors-hindi-questionnaire.md (2022) - Restless legs syndrome in frequent blood donors and its relationship with ferritin levels and red cell indices: Among 200 regular blood donors at AIIMS Rishikesh (99% male), assessed using a Hindi-language version of the CHRLS questionnaire, RLS was found in only 2% (4 donors, all male) — a rate the authors describe as comparab...
• 2022-heidbreder-dgn-s2k-leitlinie-rls.md (2022) - Restless Legs Syndrom, S2k-Leitlinie: The German S2k guideline (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Neurologie/DGN with DGSM, plus Austrian and Swiss neurology/sleep societies; RLS e.V. patient organisation on the panel), version 5.0, valid to 24.06.2027, sets Germ...
• 2024-karregat-blood-donors-nonanemic-iron-deficiency.md (2024) - Iron deficiency-related symptoms in non-anemic whole blood donors: In this large Dutch blood-donor cohort study, non-anemic iron deficiency (ferritin 0-15 or 15-30 microg/L vs >30 microg/L) was NOT significantly associated with self-reported restless legs syndrome; the only significa...
• 2025-garcia-malo-iv-iron-normal-ferritin.md (2025) - Efficacy and safety of intravenous iron in patients with restless legs syndrome with normal serum ferritin levels: a stratified subanalysis: A retrospective longitudinal study from the Sleep Research Institute, Madrid (Garcia-Borreguero's group) with the Mayo Clinic found that IV ferric carboxymaltose produced comparable symptom and brain-iron improvement ...
• 2025-gorbachev-diagnosis-therapy-elderly-review.md (2025) - Current issues of diagnosis and therapy of patients with restless legs syndrome: This 2025 Russian-language review from Sechenov University (Moscow) summarizes current diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in RLS, using the 2014 International RLS Study Group diagnostic criteria as the reference st...
• 2025-leite-dementia-ferritin-cross-sectional.md (2025) - Restless legs syndrome and ferritin levels in older adults with dementia: a cross-sectional study: Among 70 older Brazilian adults with dementia screened for restless legs syndrome (Willis-Ekbom disease), RLS prevalence was 15.7%; those with RLS had significantly lower ferritin levels, more neuropsychiatric symptom...