Absence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in restless legs syndrome

Abstract

Our findings argue against the presence of an altered lipid metabolism as a risk factor for the development of cerebrovascular disease in patients with RLS, even if they do support the idea that cerebrovascular disease might be frequent in this condition.

Elevated C-reactive protein is associated with severe periodic leg movements of sleep in patients with restless legs syndrome

“…Obstructive sleep apnea is one such condition, which is potentially relevant here for several reasons. It has been shown that in the case of hypercholesterolemia, the apparent association with RLS is fully explained by comorbid sleep apnea (Cosentino et al, 2012). Furthermore, because leg actigraphy cannot distinguish between idiopathic PLMs and periodic leg movements accompanying respiratory events, it is possible that some of the PLMs detected in our study were movements co-occurring with sleep apnea that were incorrectly classified because of the lack of polysomnographic monitoring.…”

The relationship among restless legs syndrome (Willis–Ekbom Disease), hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease

“…Of these 20 studies, 15 suggested an increased risk of hypertension, CVD, CAD, cerebrovascular disease, or heart disease in patients with RLS/PLMS [2, 10, 14, 16, 40, 61, 71, 78, 84, 87, 97, 121, 132, 136, 137]. Five cross-sectional epidemiologic studies reported no associated or a reduced risk of hypertension and CVD compared to patients without RLS [30, 55, 101, 141, 142]. As with the prospective and observational studies, the differences in the outcomes from the cross-sectional epidemiologic studies may be attributed to differences in sample populations, diagnostic criteria for RLS, and the consideration of disease duration and severity.…”

Plasma apelin level in patients with restless legs syndrome and its association with periodic leg movements

“…Many studies have shown that RLS is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular disease [11][12][13] though there have been contradictory results [26,27]. Some potential mechanisms such as physiological, cardiac, cerebral, and inflammatory were suggested as causing increased risks for vascular disease in RLS [28][29][30].…”

“…The IRLSS is the Bgold standardt o clinically evaluate RLS symptom severity and its impact on activities of daily life. The total score from the 10 items is used to indicate Bmild^(1-10), Bmoderate^ (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), Bsevere^ (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and Bvery severe^(31-40) RLS symptoms [24].…”