title: Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in female blood donors 1 week after blood donation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a frequent condition with a prevalence of 5-15% in the general population. Clinical and genetic observations have shown that iron deficiency, highly prevalent among blood donors, can be related to RLS. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of RLS in female blood donors 1 week after blood donation.
  
  
  METHODS
  One week after blood donation, 291 female blood donors, aged <50 years, self-responded to all four RLS questions defined by the 1995 International RLS study group. Blood donation rate, fatigue, aerobic capacity, menstruation, mood disorder and quality of life were also assessed along with haemoglobin and ferritin blood concentrations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence of RLS in female blood donors 1 week after blood donation was 6·9% (CI 95% 4·2-10·4%). Female blood donors with RLS had a higher prevalence of hyper-menorrhaea (P = 0·033) and were significantly more tired (P = 0·001). We observed no associations between RLS and number of previous donations (P = 0·409), aerobic capacity (P = 0·476), mood disorder (P = 0·169), quality of life (P = 0·356), haemoglobin (P = 0·087), and serum ferritin level (P = 0·446).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Restless legs syndrome prevalence in female blood donors is not as important as described in some other studies, which could reassure blood donors. The prevalence of hypermenorrhaea and fatigue is higher in RLS blood donors. Therefore, screening for fatigue and hypermenorrhaea could be considered as these symptoms are associated with RLS in female blood donors.
authors: Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Pedrazzini
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Waldvogel
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Vaucher
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Cornuz
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Heinzer
authors: J-D
authors: JD
authors: Tissot
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Favrat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D005293:Ferritins
keywords: blood donation; fatigue; hypermenorrhaea; iron deficiency; restless legs syndrome; sleep disorder