Severity and frequency of restless legs syndrome in patients with familial Mediterranean fever.
OBJECTIVE
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensory motor disorder. RLS an urge to move the extremities that may be accompanied by dysesthesias, and significantly affects quality of life of affected patients. The frequency of RLS is higher in different systemic inflammatory diseases. Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an inherited inflammatory disease characterized by attacks of polyserositis, arthritis, and fever. The prevalence of RLS in patients with FMF is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence rate of RLS in a sample of patients with FMF and compare this prevalence with that of a matched normal population.


METHOD
A total of 60 patients with FMF and 60 healthy controls were studied. All participants underwent a neurological examination. Diagnostic criteria as proposed by the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) were used to define RLS. The IRLSSG rating scale for the severity of RLS was applied to determine the severity of symptoms.


RESULTS
The prevalence of RLS was not significantly different between patients and controls. Although the mean International Restless Legs Syndrome Rating Scale (IRLSRS) scores tended to be higher in patients compared with controls, this difference was not significant. When each item of the severity scale was compared between the two groups, significantly higher scores were found in some items of the IRLSRS in patients with FMF compared with controls.


CONCLUSION
According to this result, RLS symptoms in patients with FMF were more frequent and lasted longer than those in controls.
['Yılmaz|Samet|S|', 'Çiğdem|Burhanettin|B|', 'Gökçe|Şeyda Figül|ŞF|', 'Ceyhan-Doğan|Sevil|S|', 'Balaban|Hatice|H|']
D000328:Adult D016022:Case-Control Studies D010505:Familial Mediterranean Fever D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D015995:Prevalence D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome
restless legs syndrome Familial Mediterranean fever association