Seasonal effects on the occurrence of nocturnal leg cramps: a prospective cohort study

Garrison, Scott; Dormuth, Colin R.; Morrow, Richard; Carney, Greg; Khan, Karim M.

doi:10.1503/cmaj.140497

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The social desirability bias may have led some patients to over-estimate their level of physical activity, but with an equal risk in both groups. Also, the answers may have been different according to the season when the interview was conducted 42 .…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Our Population Is Only Representamentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between physical activity and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in patients over 60 years old: a case-control study

Delacour

Chambe

Lefèbvre

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Legs cramps are a frequent disorder, which have a negative impact on quality of life, particularly among patients over 60 years old. Lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption have been shown to be associated with nocturnal Leg cramps. this study aimed to explore the association between nocturnal leg cramps and a sedentary lifestyle among elderly patients. A case-control study was conducted with a Bayesian approach for sensitivity analysis. Patients over 60 years old consulting their family doctor were recruited in the Alsace region, france. cases were matched with controls free from cramps for age, sex, medical history and medications known to trigger cramps. the level of physical activity was assessed using the Dijon physical Activity Score (DpAS). We performed univariate and multivariate analyses adjusting for alcohol consumption. 272 participants were matched into 136 pairs. 11% of all were sedentary persons. Adjusting for alcohol consumption, we observed an association between nocturnal Leg cramps and a sedentary lifestyle oR = 9.84 (95% credibility interval [1.74; 101.9]; posterior probability 99.68%). Our findings represent an additional argument to promote physical activity to patients over 60 years old. They also highlight the need to develop and evaluate physical activity interventions in the treatment of nocturnal Legs cramps. Nocturnal Leg Cramps (NLC) are painful, involuntary contractions of muscles 1-3. NLC is a specific entity of idiopathic cramps occurring at rest in the lower limb during the night 4-7. NLC are associated with a reduced quality of sleep 6 and reduced physical component scores on the SF36 quality of life questionnaire 8. Among patients over 60 years old the cramp prevalence varies from 46% to 56% 4,9. Nonetheless, patients rarely report NLC to their general practitioners 4,10,11. One of the reasons may be the known lack of both effective and safe treatments 9,11-13. Specific medical conditions and drug treatments have been identified to be associated with muscle cramps 10,14. Recently, we also showed a strong association with the global consumption of alcoholic beverages 15. Still, most cramps are considered idiopathic 16 and their physiological mechanism remains unclear 10,14. Some authors suggest that neuromuscular structures located in muscle, tendons and nerve fibres seem to be involved in the trigger of muscle cramps 4-6. Congruently with this assumption, musculoskeletal conditions associated with sedentary lifestyle 17 as well as work postures 18-20 , prolonged standing 21 and western habit of sitting instead of squatting 22 have been suspected of causing cramps and specifically NLC. We hypothesize that there may be an association between sedentary lifestyle and NLC. To the best of our knowledge, no study confirmed such a link, our aim was therefore to assess the association between a sedentary lifestyle and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in elderly patients. Methods Study design. The study was conducted within 67 general practices of the Strasbourg General Medicine Department pract...

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Section: Strengths and Limitations Our Population Is Only Representamentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between physical activity and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in patients over 60 years old: a case-control study

Delacour

Chambe

Lefèbvre

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…In the linked research article, data underlying Garrison and colleagues' analyses show 340-576 new and 3430-4372 refilled quinine prescriptions per month in British Columbia, presumably for nocturnal leg cramps, between November 2006 and October 2007 inclusive. 1 This extent of offlabel use of quinine can be decreased by appropriate action. In response to the advice and action described in the preceding paragraph, the prevalent use of quinine in the US decreased by 99% during 2006-2012, from 419 675 to 6036 individuals.…”

Section: Key Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quinine: not a safe drug for treating nocturnal leg cramps

Hogan

2015

CMAJ

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“…1 Using similar methods, we looked for seasonal modulation in the public's interest in ankle swelling as measured by the volume of Google Internet searches related to ankle swelling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality of Ankle Swelling: Population Symptom Reporting Using Google Trends

Liu¹,

Allan²,

Korownyk³

et al. 2016

The Annals of Family Medicine

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In our experience, complaints of ankle swelling are more common in summer, typically from patients with no obvious cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, this observation has never been reported. To objectively establish this phenomenon, we sought evidence of seasonality in the public's Internet searches for ankle swelling. Our data, obtained from Google Trends, consisted of all related Google searches in the United States from January 4, 2004, to January 26, 2016. Consistent with our expectations and confirmed by similar data for Australia, Internet searches for information on ankle swelling are highly seasonal (highest in midsummer), with seasonality explaining 86% of search volume variability.

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Seasonal effects on the occurrence of nocturnal leg cramps: a prospective cohort study

Abstract: See also commentary on page 237 and at

Cited by 26 publications

References 14 publications

Association between physical activity and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in patients over 60 years old: a case-control study

Association between physical activity and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in patients over 60 years old: a case-control study

Quinine: not a safe drug for treating nocturnal leg cramps

Seasonality of Ankle Swelling: Population Symptom Reporting Using Google Trends

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