The relationship between restless legs syndrome and anxiety, depression and quality of life (original) (raw)

Southern Clinics of Istanbul Eurasia

Objective: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sleep disorder. In addition to disturbing sleep, however, RLS also affects quality of life and may lead to significant fatigue or psychiatric symptoms. This study was an examination of the effects of RLS on quality of life and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Methods: In this study, 55 patients (7 males and 48 females) who met the diagnostic criteria of idiopathic RLS and 35 healthy individuals (8 males, 27 females) were evaluated using validated Turkish versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) rating scale for the severity of RLS, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), which measures quality of life. Results: Fifty-two patients who met the diagnostic criteria for idiopathic RLS were evaluated in Group I and 35 healthy controls were included in Group II. A statistically significant difference was observed in the PSQI, ESS, ISI, BDI, BAI, FSS, and SF-36 questionnaire results in the RLS group compared with the control group. The mean score of the SF-36 Physical Component Summary (PCS) scale was significantly lower among RLS patients than that of the healthy subjects. There was a negative correlation between the PCS score and RLS severity, fatigue, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, anxiety, and the level of depressive symptoms. Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that the FSS and BDI values were influential variables on the PCS score. Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrated that patients with idiopathic RLS experienced significantly impaired quality of life and the psychiatric symptoms of anxiety and depression.