title: Racial differences in the prevalence of restless legs syndrome in a primary care setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a primary care clinic and in African American (AA) and non-African American (NAA) racial groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the prevalence of RLS using 1-on-1 interviews in general medicine clinics. Subjects were interviewed using John Hopkins Telephone Diagnostic Interview. All interviews were conducted by trained physicians.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 190 patients were interviewed: 103 AA (58.3% were female) and 87 NAA (59.8% were female). The overall prevalence of definite RLS was 22.6%. The average age was 53 years (standard deviation, 15) in AA and 50 years (standard deviation, 13) in NAA. Among AA, the diagnosis of RLS was definite in 11.65%, probable in 3.88%, negative in 83.5%, and unknown in 0.97%. Among NAA, patients were either identified as definite RLS (35.63%) or not RLS (64.37%); no patients were diagnosed as probable RLS or unknown. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine whether age, race, and sex were statistically significant predictors of an RLS diagnosis. When accounting for the other variables, the association between NAA and RLS prevalence was statistically significant (P = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Restless legs syndrome is common among primary care clinic patients. Its prevalence in the NAA population is approximately 3 times higher than in the AA group. We found the association between NAA race and RLS prevalence to be statistically significant. Larger studies are needed to further examine the relation between race and RLS prevalence.
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO. aalkhaznah@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ammar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alkhazna
authors.forename: Anwaar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.forename: Wahid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rashidzada
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Romaker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044469:Racial Groups; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors