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The prevalence of restless legs syndrome in patients undergoing coronary angiography and its relationship with the severity of coronary artery stenosis

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Results from studies on the relationship between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and coronary artery disease (CAD) are conflicting. Some studies associate RLS with CAD by heart rate variability, blood pressure variability, and other autonomic, neuronal reasons, while other studies do not support these observations. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of RLS in patients undergoing coronary angiography for CAD and to assess RLS prevalence with severity of CAD.

Methods

After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, enrolled patients with less than 50% coronary artery stenosis by angiography (0–49%) were assigned to group 1, and patients with 50% or more coronary artery stenosis were assigned to group 2. Patients were diagnosed with RLS if they met all five essential criteria of the International RLS study group. RLS prevalence and other comorbidities were compared between the two groups.

Results

Of 126 patients, 74 men (59%), mean age 64.0 ± 8.7 years, mean BMI 29.6 kg/m2, 47 (37%) were assigned to group 1 (no or nonobstructive CAD) and 79 (63%) were assigned to group 2 (obstructive CAD). No significant differences were found between the groups in terms of mean age, BMI, gender, or prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and DM. The prevalence of RLS in group 2 (29%) was significantly higher than in group 1 (15%), p = 0.013.

Conclusion

These results suggest that prevalence of RLS is associated with CAD and with CAD severity. We conjecture that RLS may be related to vascular endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University, Kaleardi mah. Muhittin Fusunoglu cad, 60100, Tokat, Turkey

    Dürdane Aksoy, Betül Çevik, Orhan Sümbül & Semiha Kurt

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey

    Ataç Çelik

  3. Memorial Hizmet Hospital, Department of Neurology, Bahcelievler/Istanbul, Turkey

    Volkan Solmaz

Authors
  1. Dürdane Aksoy
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  2. Ataç Çelik
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  3. Volkan Solmaz
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  4. Betül Çevik
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  5. Orhan Sümbül
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  6. Semiha Kurt
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Correspondence to Dürdane Aksoy.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Aksoy, D., Çelik, A., Solmaz, V. et al. The prevalence of restless legs syndrome in patients undergoing coronary angiography and its relationship with the severity of coronary artery stenosis. Sleep Breath 25, 257–262 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-020-02085-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-020-02085-2

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