Circadian rhythm in restless legs syndrome

Registry and survey of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder patients

Objective

Circadian Sleep Disorders Network has created a registry of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder (CRSWD) patients, and a survey of their experiences. The purpose of the registry is to provide volunteers willing to participate in research; the purpose of the survey is to fill some of the knowledge gaps on these disorders, including information on subjective patient experience and the efficacy and durability of treatments.Researchers are invited to contact Circadian Sleep Disorders Network for permission to use the registry to find potential research participants, and to further analyze the survey data.

Patients

Over 1627 patients have participated; 1298 have completed the entire survey. Here we present results based on the 479 clinically diagnosed CRSWD patients.

Methods

The survey covers a variety of topics relating to CRSWDs, including diagnosis, comorbidities, treatments, and work/educational accommodations.

Conclusions

Results of this survey diverged from much of the literature. More than half the participants reported tiredness even when sleeping on their preferred schedule. While depression may cause sleep problems, our data suggests that sleep/circadian problems often precede depression.There were more people suffering from sighted non-24-hour sleep-wake rhythm disorder than some of the literature would lead us to expect.Current treatments did not appear to be helpful to a large percentage of our participants. Most of them did not find light therapy helpful and nearly all participants who tried phase-delay chronotherapy reported at best only short-term improvement. A sizable proportion of people who tried phase-delay chronotherapy subsequently developed non-24-hour sleep-wake rhythm disorder.

Cerebral blood flow changes in maintenance hemodialysis patients with restless legs syndrome and their clinical significance:a cross-sectional case-control study

OBJECTIVE

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) stands as a prevalent neurological complication within maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. However, the alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) among MHD-RLS patients remain uncharted. Through the utilization of the arterial spin labeling (ASL) technique, we evaluated the fluctuations in CBF within distinct brain regions and analyzed the risk factors for the development of RLS in MHD patients in the context of the clinic.

METHODS

Thirty-one MHD patients with concomitant RLS (MHD-RLS group) and thirty-one non-RLS patients matched based on age, gender, as well as cognitive function (MHD-nRLS group) were included. Through image preprocessing and data analysis, the changes in CBF values in distinct brain regions were obtained, and the CBF values of brain regions with substantial differences between the two groups were correlated with the RLS scores. Furthermore, the differences in baseline data were compared, and through the utilization of multifactorial logistic regression, the independent risk factors for the development of RLS were examined.

RESULTS

Compared with the MHD-nRLS group, the MHD-RLS group had increased CBF in the right superior temporal gyrus, reduced CBF in the right hippocampus, left middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus of right triangle, middle frontal gyrus of left orbit, left precentral gyrus, and left precuneus. Only left precentral gyrus CBF were negatively correlated with RLS scores after correction for dialysis duration(r = -0.436, P = 0.016). Accordingly, multifactorial regression analysis by stepwise method yielded that the left precentral gyrus CBF values(OR: 0.968, 95%CI: 0.944-0.993, P = 0.012) remained an independent risk factor for RLS in MHD patients. In addition, the results showed that hemodialysis duration (OR: 1.055, 95%CI: 1.014-1.098, P = 0.008) and serum iron levels (OR: 0.685, 95%CI: 0.551-0.852, P = 0.001) were also risk factors for the development of RLS.

CONCLUSION

Patients afflicted with MHD-RLS exhibit alterations in CBF across several brain regions. Notably, the left precentral gyrus might serve as a pivotal region influencing the onset of RLS among MHD patients. Furthermore, extended hemodialysis duration and a relative insufficiency in serum iron levels independently contribute as risk factors for RLS development within the MHD patient population.

Improvement of restless leg syndrome in maintenance hemodialysis patients with limb ischemic preconditioning: a single-center randomized controlled clinical trial

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of limb ischemic preconditioning (LIPC) in treating restless leg syndrome (RLS) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients.

METHODS

A total number of 45 patients participated in the study. They were randomly divided into LIPC group and control group. The LIPC was performed by inflating the limb ischemic preconditioning training device in the patient's thigh to 200 mmHg to create transient ischemia, whereas control group inflated the device to 20 mmHg. International Restless Legs Syndrome (IRLS), Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI-S), and Medical Outputs Study Sleep Scale were employed to evaluate LIPC effectiveness. The primary endpoint was the 'rate of clinical improvement in RLS severity', defined as the percentage of patients who had an IRLS score decrease of ≥5 points in each group.

RESULTS

After intervention, the rate of clinical improvement in RLS severity was 56.5% in the LIPC group and 13.6% in the control group (13 (56.5) vs 3 (13.6), p = 0.003). In addition, the LIPC group's IRLS, CGI-S scores, the sleep disturbance and somnolence scores showed a significant downward trend compared to the control group (-5.5 ± 5.3 vs - 1.0 ± 3.8, p = 0.002; -1.7 ± 1.2 vs - 0.5 ± 1.4, p = 0.003; -15.5 ± 17.8 vs 3.7 ± 12.0, p < 0.001; -9.9 ± 18.8 vs - 2.4 ± 8.6, p = 0.003). During the study, there were no serious adverse event in any of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

LIPC could be employed to effectively and safely alleviate the RLS symptoms in MHD patients.