title: Restless legs syndrome and all-cause mortality in four prospective cohort studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and all-cause mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four prospective cohort studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Dortmund Health Study (DHS) and the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) from Germany. The Women's Health Study (WHS) and the Physicians' Health Study (PHS) from the USA.
  
  
  METHODS
  In DHS: a random sample (n=1 299) from the population of Dortmund; in SHIP: a sample (n=4 291) from residents living in West Pomerania were drawn by multistage random sampling design; in WHS: female healthcare professionals (n=31 370); in PHS: male physicians (n=22 926)
  
  
  METHODS
  All-cause mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of RLS ranged between 7.4% and 11.9% at baseline. During follow-up (ranging between 6 and 11 years) RLS was not associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality in any of the four cohorts. The multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CI) for all-cause mortality ranged from 0.21 (0.03 to 1.53) to 1.07 (0.93 to 1.23) across the four studies. The HRs for all-cause mortality did not differ according to gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In these four independently conducted large prospective cohort studies from Germany and the USA, RLS did not increase the risk of all-cause mortality. These findings do not support the hypothesis that RLS is a risk factor for mortality of any cause.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: András
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szentkirályi
authors.forename: Anke C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schürks
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Völzke
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: E Buring
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaziano
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurth
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berger