title: Relationship between prevalence and severity of restless legs syndrome and anemia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to evaluate the relationship between the prevalence and severity of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and the anemia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a case-control study which was conducted at the rheumatology clinic of a university affiliated hospital, including 62 patients with SLE and 62 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The patients were divided into two groups in terms of their hemoglobin levels. The criterion for anemia was hemoglobin level lower than 12 g/dL in females and 13 g/dL in males.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nineteen patients (30.6%) in the patient group were diagnosed with RLS, and International RLS Study Group Rating Scale (IRLSSG-RS) score was 10.7 ± 9.5 (median:10.0 [range:0.0-30.0]). Three subjects (4.8%) in the control group had RLS, and the IRLSSG-RS score was 0.7 ± 3.3 (median:0.0 [range:0.0-18.0]). The prevalence of RLS and the IRLSSG-RS score were higher in the patient group than those in the control group (P < 0.001). Ten SLE patients (50%) with anemia had RLS, and their IRLSSG-RS score was 14.5 ± 9.9 (median:21.0 [range:11.0-30.0]). Nine SLE patients (21.4%) without anemia had RLS and their IRLSSG-RS was 9.0 ± 8.9 (median:21.0 [range:11.0-24.0]). Significant differences were present in the prevalence of RLS and the IRLSSG-RS score between SLE patients with and without anemia (P = 0.024, P = 0.044, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrated that the prevalence of RLS was higher in patients with SLE than that of the normal population. Results of this study also suggested that anemia was associated with higher frequency of and more severe RLS in patients with lupus.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Adem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kucuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kangal State Hospital, Sivas, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ali Ugur
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ender
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salbas
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Sakarya University Research and Training Hospital, Sakarya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yalcin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Solak
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tunc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006454:Hemoglobins
keywords: International RLS Study Group Rating Scale score; anemia; prevalence; restless legs syndrome; systemic lupus erythematosus