Study Says Restless Leg Syndrome Common

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Study Says Restless Leg Syndrome Common

EVAN BERLAND

Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. - About one in 10 people suffer weekly from a syndrome

that causes leg discomfort and leads to sleeplessness, and few are

properly diagnosed by their physicians, according to a drug

company-funded study to be released Tuesday.

The study, based on surveys of 23,052 people in five countries,

indicates that many doctors and patients do not recognize restless legs

syndrome, even when a sufferer reports experiencing symptoms twice a

week.

" The patient didn't know what they had. The doctor didn't know what they

had and, as a result, the people suffering from this condition didn't

really get the medical care they deserve, " said study co-author Dr.

Wayne Hening, a clinical assistant professor of neurology at Wood

Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J.

Results of the study, which was funded by GlaxoKline, are to be

released in the online version of the journal " Sleep Medicine " Tuesday

and in its print version Thursday.

The syndrome is characterized by deep " creepy crawly " sensations in a

person's legs when they are not moving, and especially when a person

tries to go to sleep, Hening said.

" These people often have the worst sleep of anybody, " he said. " They get

a few hours of fragmented sleep and are up and down every night and this

can go on for years. "

When they do fall asleep sufferers have been known to inadvertently kick

bedmates, doctors said.

The study, which asked people to answer questionnaires at their primary

care physicians' offices, found that 9.6 percent exhibited symptoms of

the syndrome once a week and about a quarter of those people reported

symptoms occurring at least twice a week.

Of those 551 more chronic sufferers, nearly 65 percent reported

consulting their doctors about the condition, but less than 13 percent

of those were diagnosed with the syndrome, according to the study.

Nearly 70 of the more chronic sufferers said it took them more than 30

minutes to get to sleep and 60 percent reported they awoke three or more

times each night. The study also cited effects of sleep disruption as a

consequence of the syndrome, with nearly half of chronic sufferers

reporting their activities were affected the following day and 54

percent reporting they became depressed.

The study, which was co-authored by doctors at institutions elsewhere in

New Jersey and in Baltimore, Montreal, and Milan, Italy, estimated that

more than 3 percent of people who see a doctor suffer from forms of the

syndrome that can be treated medically.

Dr. Clete Kushida, director of the Stanford University Center for Human

Sleep Research, reviewed the study and said it was " groundbreaking "

because of its scope.

Surveys were conducted in Germany, France, Spain, the United States and

United Kingdom.

" The hope is that physicians and patients will realize that restless

legs syndrome is a common condition that can be diagnosed and treated

successfully and that patients should not hesitate if they have these

symptoms to talk to their physician about it, " said Kushida, who is on

the medical advisory board of the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation.

He said he treated one man, a traveling salesman, who could only find

temporary relief from his discomfort while driving by hitting his legs

with a baseball bat.

Kushida said treatments for the syndrome that are known to be successful

include medications now prescribed for Parkinson's disease and for

epilepsy. Tranquilizers and opiates, such as codeine, also are

prescribed.

Hening said the federal government has yet to approve a medication

specifically for the treatment of the ailment.