RLS Associated with Daytime Functioning and Health Problems

At the 2005 CHEST conference in Montreal, Barbara Phillips, MD, MSPH, Medical Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Samaritan Hospital in Lexington and NSF Board Chairman reported findings of her in-depth study of NSF’s 2005 Sleep in America poll results based on questions about Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Of 1504 telephone surveys, 9.7% of the respondents with a mean age of 49 met the study's criteria for a diagnosis of RLS, including an urge to move their legs at least a few nights a week with an increase of symptoms at night. Phillips and fellow researchers also observed that individuals with RLS were more likely to be unemployed, smoke cigarettes and have medical problems including hypertension, arthritis, GERD, depression and diabetes. According to Dr. Phillips, "The main findings were that RLS seems to be more prevalent in the southeast of the US and RLS is associated with significant problems with daytime functioning and health."