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Long-term symptoms of restless legs syndrome linked to CHD
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Women with symptoms of restless legs syndrome for at least 3 years had a heightened risk for developing CHD during 6 years of follow-up, according to results from a large-scale prospective study.
Researchers analyzed more than 70,000 women (mean age, 67 years) who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. The women were free of CHD and stroke at baseline in 2002 and were followed until 2008. Questionnaires were used to collect information on physician-diagnosed restless legs syndrome (RLS). At baseline, 1,484 women reported a diagnosis of RLS.
Researchers found a strong connection between presence and duration of RLS and increased risk for developing CHD (defined as nonfatal MI or fatal CHD), compared with women without RLS. The researchers calculated multivariable-adjusted HRs of 1.80 (95% CI, 1.07-3.01) for nonfatal MI and 1.49 (95% CI, 0.55-4.04) for fatal CHD in women with RLS for 3 years or longer vs. women without RLS, according to the study abstract.
“The fact that the association between CVDs only was found for women with longer duration RLS suggests that it is the long-term impact of RLS or RLS-associated conditions that may contribute to CVD. Among other possibilities, this may occur through the well-known increased sympathetic activation seen in RLS,” Yanping Li, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleague wrote.
Women with RLS were more likely to be older, white, have a higher prevalence of major chronic conditions and use iron supplements than women without RLS.
According to the researchers, “previous cross-sectional studies suggested a positive association between RLS and CHD … [but] this observation was not confirmed by subsequent prospective studies … [which] did not take into account the duration of RLS symptoms.” Future study is needed to verify these associations, they said.
For more information:
Li Y. Circulation. 2012;doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.112698.
Disclosure: See the full study for the researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.