title: Achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of epidemiologic research in restless legs syndrome (RLS).
abstract: In the 20 years since the initial consensus on a common definition for restless legs syndrome (RLS), over 600 scientific reports on epidemiological aspects of RLS have been published. Most are descriptive and address important issues such as prevalence, familial patterns, comorbidities, and quality of life. While the establishment of prospective cohort studies and the use of secondary data sources are rather new to RLS research, both options significantly broaden the possibilities for analysis of disease risk factors. These two options, as well as the inclusion of a broader phenotyping of individual patients, have great potential to elucidate etiologic factors for RLS and expand knowledge about this common disorder. This article summarizes achievements in the area of RLS epidemiology, describes current challenges, and highlights future perspectives in the field.
authors: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, IL, USA. Electronic address: dpicchie@illinois.edu.
authors: Daniel L
authors: DL
authors: Picchietti
authors: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors: Stephen K
authors: SK
authors: Van Den Eeden
authors: Department of Somnology, Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo Medical University and Japan Somnology Center, Japan.
authors: Yuichi
authors: Y
authors: Inoue
authors: Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Muenster, Germany.
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Berger
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Epidemiology; Research methods; Restless legs syndrome; Secondary data analysis; Study design