title: Symptoms of restless legs syndrome in a palliative care population: frequency and impact.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that restless legs syndrome (RLS) would be common and associated with impaired quality of life (QOL) among palliative care outpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  76 palliative care clinic patients completed the National Institutes of Health restless legs syndrome (NIH-RLS) screening questionnaire. Questionnaire data was also gathered on RLS severity and RLS-related QOL, and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was used to measure QOL. Analysis was performed for associations between RLS categorization and QOL measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  31 patients (40.8 percent) met criteria for RLS. RLS-positive patients had moderate-to-severe RLS symptoms and impaired RLS-specific QOL. RLS-positive patients scored lower on the mental component of the SF-12 (39 +/- 11 versus 45 +/- 12, p=0.03), though not on the physical component. In a multivariate regression analysis, higher levels of RLS severity had 2-point lower SF-12 mental component scores compared to lower levels of RLS severity (p=0.04), with no difference in physical component scores (p=0.47).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RLS appears common in palliative care outpatients and is associated with impairments in QOL.
authors.affiliation: Center for Sleep Disorders, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Harneet K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Walia
authors.affiliation: Division of Internal Medicine, Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shalhoub
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Verai
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramsammy
authors.affiliation: Division of Palliative Care Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.affiliation: Center for Reducing Health Disparities, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: J Daryl
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA 44109.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Auckley
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires