Individuals with restless legs syndrome tend to have severe depressive symptoms: Findings from a community-based cohort study

Chul Hyun Cho, Leen Kim, Heon Jeong Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor neurological disturbance causing physical and psychological distress. Here, we investigated the severity and effect of depressive symptoms in RLS among a Korean cohort population. Depressive symptoms were more prevalent in the RLS group than in the non-RLS group [≥mild depression: odds ratio (OR)=1.95, p<0.001; ≥ moderate depression: OR=6.15, p<0.001; and ≥severe depression: OR=56.54, p<0.001], with a predominant proportion of severe depression (97%) in the RLS group. We found that difficulty falling asleep (OR=8.16, p<0.001), broken sleep (OR=11.66, p=0.001), early morning awakening (OR=8.5, p<0.001), and excessive daytime sleepiness (OR=3.04, p=0.031) were significantly frequent in individuals with severe depression in the RLS group. Red blood cell count was significantly low in individuals with severe depression in the RLS group (p=0.041). We found that severe depression was associated with RLS, suggesting the evaluation and management of mood symptoms and sleep-related and hematological features when treating RLS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)887-893
Number of pages7
JournalPsychiatry Investigation
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Nov

Keywords

  • Daytime sleepiness
  • Depressive symptom
  • Hematological features
  • Insomnia
  • Restless legs syndrome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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