BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in India is unknown. Up to 25% of Caucasian RLS patients also have iron deficiency. The main objective of the study was to find occurrence of RLS in patients with iron deficiency anemia and compare it to non-anemic healthy people.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

This was a cross-sectional study from April 2003 to October 2004 done in in-patient and out-patient services of Medicine department, St. John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore, India. Sixty-four consecutive adult patients with iron deficiency and 256 age- and sex-matched non-anemic participants were interviewed face-to-face. Hemogram was done in all participants, and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) in anemic patients.

RESULTS:

RLS symptoms were present in 6.25% of healthy participants and 34.37% of anemic patients (p<0.001). Chronic menorrhagia (p=0.001) and repeated blood donation (5 times) (p=0.009) were associated with increased RLS occurrence. RLS was associated with delayed onset of sleep (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION:

RLS, a common occurrence among healthy participants, occurred at a significantly higher rate among iron-deficient anemic patients. Further studies are warranted to better characterize RLS in India.