Restless legs syndrome in patients with distal diabetic polyneuropathy

Introduction/Objective. An association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and etiologically different polyneuropathies is well established. However, the investigations about the prevalence of RLS in diabetic polyneuropathy (DP) have led to controversy. Our study objective was to determine the frequency of RLS in patients with distal symmetrical polyneuropathy in patients with diabetes and identify possible risk factors for its occurrence in this group of patients. Method. We investigated 101 consecutive patients with distal DP. RLS was diagnosed according to the International RLS Study Group diagnostic criteria. The distal symmetrical polyneuropathy was confirmed by the electromyoneurographic study performed in each patient. Results. Overall RLS was present in 27 (26.73%) patients. The comparison between patients with and without RLS revealed that the RLS+ group included more women than men (14.85/9.90% vs. 35.64/37.62%, non-significant), patients were significantly younger (60.58 ± 10.54 vs. 65.57 ± 10.94 years, p ≤ 0.05), sensory polyneuropathy was significantly more common (17/27 vs. 34/74, p ≤ 0.05); the average level of the total serum calcium concentration was higher in the RLS + group than in non-RLS (2.43 ± 0.26 vs. 2.28 ± 0.39; p ≤ 0.05). However, multivariate logistic regression analysis did not demonstrate these as significant independent risk factors for RLS in DP. Conclusions. RLS is common in DP and occurs in more than a quarter of these patients. Though sensory forms and higher total serum calcium concentration were associated with RLS, neither of these has been identified as a significant single risk factor for the development of RLS in DP