title: Restless legs syndrome during and after pregnancy and its relation to snoring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study development of restless legs syndrome (RLS) during and after pregnancy, and whether RLS is related to snoring or other pregnancy-related symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antenatal care clinics in the catchment area of Linköping university hospital, Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred consecutively recruited pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sleep disturbances, including symptoms of RLS and snoring, were assessed with questionnaires in each trimester. A complementary questionnaire was sent three years after delivery to women experiencing symptoms of RLS during pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Symptoms of RLS in relation to snoring in each trimester.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Symptoms of RLS were reported by 17.0% of the women in the first trimester, by 27.1% in the second trimester and by 29.6% in the third trimester. Snoring in the first trimester was correlated to increased prevalence of RLS in all three trimesters (p= 0.003, 0.017 and 0.044 in the first, second and third trimester, respectively). No correlation was found between RLS and anemia, parity or body mass index. Among the women who experienced RLS, 31% still had symptoms three years after delivery. Fifty-eight per cent of those whose symptoms had disappeared stated that this happened within one month after delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Symptoms of RLS progressed most between the first and second trimester. Women who snored in the first or second trimester of pregnancy had a higher prevalence of RLS in the third trimester, which indicates that snoring in early pregnancy might predict RLS later. Symptoms of RLS disappear quite soon after delivery, but about one-third of women with RLS during pregnancy may still have symptoms three years after childbirth.
authors.affiliation: Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden. maria.sarberg@lio.se
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sarberg
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Josefsson
authors.forename: Ann-Britt
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Wiréhn
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Svanborg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012913:Snoring / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology