Restless legs syndrome and multiple sclerosis: a Brazilian multicenter study and meta-analysis of the literature

• Autor(a) principal: Fragoso,Yára Dadalti
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Finkelsztejn,Alessandro, Gomes,Sidney, Maciel,Damacio Ramon Kaimen, Oliveira,Celso Luis S., Lopes,Josiane, Cristovam,Rafael A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2011000200007
• topic: multiple sclerosis; restless legs syndrome; meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: The increased prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in multiple sclerosis (MS) has recently been the subject of a few papers. The present study investigated the prevalence of RLS symptoms in MS patients and in controls in four Brazilian cities. Additionally, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature was carried out on the subject of RLS-MS. METHOD: MS patients and controls were investigated regarding the presence of the four typical symptoms of RLS. A questionnaire assessing RLS severity was also used for patients and controls presenting the four RLS symptoms criteria. The systematic review and meta-analysis on the subject were carried out according to the strict international criteria. RESULTS: In the present report, the RLS-MS association was confirmed as being more than fortuitous in Brazilian MS patients, in a multicenter case-control study. MS patients also presented RLS symptoms of greater severity than did the control population. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature showed that MS patients had a fourfold higher chance of presenting RLS than did the controls. CONCLUSION: Although underlying mechanisms to explain the association RLS-MS are still a matter of discussion, there is a clear association of these two neurological conditions.