Restless legs syndrome in Indian patients having iron deficiency anemia in a tertiary care hospital.
OBJECTIVE
Prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in India is unknown. Up to 25% of Caucasian RLS patients also have iron deficiency. The main objective of the study was to find occurrence of RLS in patients with iron deficiency anemia and compare it to non-anemic healthy people.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study from April 2003 to October 2004 done in in-patient and out-patient services of Medicine department, St. John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore, India. Sixty-four consecutive adult patients with iron deficiency and 256 age- and sex-matched non-anemic participants were interviewed face-to-face. Hemogram was done in all participants, and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) in anemic patients.


RESULTS
RLS symptoms were present in 6.25% of healthy participants and 34.37% of anemic patients (p<0.001). Chronic menorrhagia (p=0.001) and repeated blood donation (5 times) (p=0.009) were associated with increased RLS occurrence. RLS was associated with delayed onset of sleep (p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
RLS, a common occurrence among healthy participants, occurred at a significantly higher rate among iron-deficient anemic patients. Further studies are warranted to better characterize RLS in India.
Rangarajan
Sunad
S
Division of Chest Diseases, Department of Medicine, St. John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore, India. dr.sunad@gmail.com
D'Souza
George Albert
GA
D000328:Adult; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001782:Blood Donors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011524:Protoporphyrins / Q000097:blood; D012016:Reference Values; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins; D011524:Protoporphyrins