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Objectives: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological disorder but it is not sufficiently recognized in children and adolescents. It often overlaps with growing pains in children, and as a result the clinical characteristics of pediatric RLS are not well studied, especially in Asia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of pediatric RLS patients in Korea and compare it to those of adult RLS patients., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all pediatric RLS patients (≤18 years) from January 2015 to December 2018 in a regional tertiary hospital sleep center. We randomly selected adult primary RLS patients without comorbid medical disorders from our sleep center's dataset as controls. The number of controls was determined to be twice the number of pediatric RLS patients according to sample size calculation. The clinical and polysomnographic (PSG) characteristics of both groups were compared. The independent t-test, chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact test were used for analyzing quantitative data between the two groups and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: Twenty-nine primary pediatric RLS patients and 57 adult RLS patients were enrolled. Pediatric RLS patients showed equal prevalence between sexes, as opposed to adults where there is female predominance. Ferritin level was significantly lower in pediatric patients, although it remained within the normal range. Also, pediatric RLS patients showed less severe RLS symptoms and had better sleep quality than adults did in both objective and subjective measures. In addition, PLMS was shown to be less common in pediatric RLS patients compared to adults., Conclusions: Pediatric RLS patients showed relatively mild to moderate RLS symptoms and a smaller likelihood of experiencing PLMS than adult patients, which is comparable to similar western studies. Long-term evaluation of a patient's clinical course through multicenter clinical studies is strongly suggested for the future., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and hypertension remains controversial. We investigated the relationship between RLS and hypertension in a nationwide sample of the Korean adult population., Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study including 2,740 adults aged 19 years or more. Subjects who met the four essential International RLS Study Group criteria and reported symptoms occurring at least once a week were defined as the RLS group. The presence of hypertension was defined as a self-reported history of physician-diagnosed hypertension. We conducted multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the independent association between RLS symptoms and self-reported hypertension after adjusting for potential confounding factors., Results: Among the 2,740 subjects, 68 (2.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9%-3.1%) were found to have RLS with a symptom frequency of at least once a week. The prevalence of self-reported hypertension was 30.9% (95% CI, 20.5%-42.0%) in the RLS group, which was significantly higher than that in controls (12.4%; 95% CI, 11.2%-13.6%; P < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the adjusted odds ratio for self-reported hypertension in the RLS group was 2.10 (95% CI, 1.12-3.93) compared to controls. In addition to RLS symptoms, old age, being overweight, low education level, diabetes mellitus, and short sleep duration were significantly associated with self-reported hypertension., Conclusion: RLS symptoms occurring at least once a week is independently associated with a higher prevalence of self-reported hypertension in the adult Korean population. Further research will confirm the clinical implication of the present results and the causal relationship between RLS and hypertension., Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (© 2019 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.)

Background: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sleep disorder, although it has a low prevalence in Asian populations. However, the reported RLS prevalence in -Korean adults is mostly 4.5-12.1%, which is higher than that reported in other Asian populations. This study aimed to diagnose RLS and exclude mimicking conditions in 2 independent samples of Korean adults, and to compare its prevalence to that from previous studies performed in Asian countries., Methods: Study populations included a (1) nationwide stratified random sample (n = 2,824; age 19-79 years) and (2) community-based cohort (n = 2,685; age 47-79 years). We applied the Cambridge-Hopkins diagnostic questionnaire to diagnose RLS and differentiate it from RLS mimics. Sleep-related symptoms, mood, and medical conditions were compared between the RLS and non-RLS groups. Prior studies of the RLS prevalence in Asia were systematically reviewed and compared to our findings., Results: The adjusted RLS prevalence was 0.4 and 1.3% in populations 1 and 2, respectively. In both populations, subjects with RLS had more depression. The prevalence of RLS mimics was 5.1 and 2.6%, in populations 1 and 2, respectively. The RLS prevalence in Asia was higher when RLS was defined by the presence of essential clinical features and lower when a differential diagnosis was additionally implemented., Conclusions: The RLS prevalence in Korean adults considering RLS mimics is comparable to that in adults from other Asian countries (< 2%). The reported RLS prevalence varies depending on the diagnostic method employed., (© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

This was a prospective, cohort study in Korean pregnant and postpartum women, to estimate the prevalence and patterns of sleep disturbances. The survey was composed of the following validated sleep questionnaires: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Women's Health Initiative Insomnia Rating Scale, Berlin Questionnaire for sleep disordered breathing, the international restless leg syndrome (IRLS) Study Group criteria, and the Johns Hopkins Telephone Diagnostic Interview Form (JHTDIF) for RLS. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 18.0. Six hundred eighty-nine women completed sleep surveys. The overall percentage of women with very poor sleep quality (a PSQI score greater than 10), clinically significant insomnia (a total score of 9 or more), excessive daytime sleepiness (a total ESS score of 10 or more), short sleep duration (less than 7 hours per night) were 80.7%, 50.5%, 34.0% and 29.5%, respectively, and all of three parameters became increased as pregnancy progressed and after delivery ( p = 0.002, 0.001, and 0.001, respectively). The overall positive rates in Berlin and RLS questionnaires were 25.4% and 19.4%. In conclusion, sleep disturbances are prevalent among Korean pregnant and postpartum women, and increase significantly as pregnancy progresses and after delivery.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, neuropsychiatric comorbidities, iron metabolism and potential risk factors of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in the elderly Korean population. As a community-based epidemiological study, a simple random sample of 1118 was drawn from a roster of 61 730 adult individuals aged 65 years and older and 714 participated. The diagnosis of RLS was established in face-to-face interviews using the four minimal diagnostic criteria for RLS recommended by National Institute of Health. Depressive symptoms, nocturnal sleep disturbances, daytime sleepiness and quality of life were evaluated. Laboratory tests of iron metabolism, markers of inflammation, renal and endocrine function, hormones and vitamins were performed. A total of 59 patients (42 women and 17 men) were diagnosed as RLS with a prevalence of 8.3% (95% confidence interval: 6.2-10.3%), with an almost twofold higher prevalence in women (10.2%) than in men (5.7%). Depression was more prevalent among the subjects with RLS than without RLS and poor nocturnal sleep and quality of life were also observed in subjects with RLS. Daytime sleepiness was observed in 32.8% of subjects with RLS. No significant differences were found in iron metabolism or other risk factors between the subjects with and without RLS. The prevalence of RLS in the Korean elderly population was comparable with that in the Caucasian population. RLS had undesirable effects on mood, sleep quality and general wellbeing of elderly individuals.