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Can Restless Legs Syndrome Cause Heart Disease? Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom disease, is a common neurological sensorimotor disorder that causes unpleasant or uncomfortable sensations in the legs. Suffers can temporarily ease the unpleasant feeling by moving their legs. It usually happens in the late afternoon or evening hours during periods of inactivity, just before falling asleep, or even during sleep. It may also occur when one is inactive and sitting for extended periods, for example, when taking a trip by plane or watching a movie. People with RLS usually have the discomforting sensations coming from deep within the legs and usually occurring around the knees or in the lower legs. The feelings they describe include burning, twitching, creeping, itching, aching, pulling or tension in their legs. The sensations can occur on just one side of the body or both sides. They can also alternate between sides. All these can cause people with RLS have difficulty to fall asleep and stay sleeping. A classic feature of RLS is that the symptoms are worse at night with a distinct symptom-free period in the early morning. Those who are diagnosed with moderately severe RLS may have symptoms only once or twice a week but often result in significant delay of sleep onset that may create some disruption of daytime function. In severe cases of RLS, the symptoms occur more than twice a week, which can seriously interrupt the sleep and impair daytime function.
Mild RLS does not seem to cause serious
complications, but severe RLS can affect life quality and can possibly trigger
depression. RLS definitely disturb sleep by causing insomnia, which may lead to
excessive daytime sleepiness, low energy, irritability and depressed mood.
While RLS is more likely to occur in women, it can happen to men. It may begin at any age and generally worsens as one ages. Many individuals who are severely affected are middle-aged or older, and the symptoms typically become more frequent and last longer with age. It seems unlikely, but research has found a connection between RLS and heart disease. A study published online December 15, 2017 in the journal ‘Neurology’ reported that RLS may raise the risk of heart-related death, particularly among older women. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University in State College examined data on 57,417 women, and they were clinically followed for a period of 10 years. The data was obtained from the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective study of women's health. These women had an average age of 67, and they did not have any cancer, renal failure, or cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the beginning of the study. Findings from their analysis revealed that women who had been diagnosed with RLS had a higher risk of CVD-related mortality: women with RLS were around 43 percent likelier to die from a heart condition than with those without RLS. Moreover, longer duration of RLS diagnosis was significantly associated with a higher risk of CVD mortality. There is, however, no links were found between RLS and mortality caused by other conditions, such as cancer. An earlier paper published online September 11, 2012 in journal ‘Circulation’ by researchers at Harvard's Channing Laboratory found that study participants with RLS lasting 3 years or more had an elevated risk of developing coronary artery disease, and that this risk increased the longer a woman had RLS. All the study participants were primarily healthy women, and this makes RLS a potential risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease.
No cause-and-effect relationship has so far been
demonstrated from any previous research. If there is any cause and effect, as
advocated by researchers, it may have to do with hypertension. Up to 80 percent
of RLS patients have a movement disorder called periodic limb movements of sleep
(PLMS), in which repeated episodes of stereotypical leg movements (300 to 500
times) occur while sleeping. Research shows that patients with PLMS can have
significant elevations in their blood pressure and heart rate during episodes of
leg movement while sleeping. People with RLS are also more likely to have
conditions such as hypertension that may raise their heart disease risk. Date: September 19, 2019
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