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An evaluation of sleep quality and the prevalence of restless leg syndrome in vitamin D deficiency

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Abstract

Vitamin D is known to increase levels of dopamine and its metabolites in the brain and also protects dopaminergic neurons against dopaminergic toxins. The aims of the study were to assess the frequency and symptom severity of restless leg syndrome (RLS) and sleep quality in vitamin D deficiency. A total of 102 patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, comprising 57 vitamin D deficient patients as Group 1 and 45 patients with normal levels of vitamin D as Group 2. RLS was diagnosed according to the International RLS Study Group (IRLSSG) diagnostic criteria. Symptom severity was assessed using the IRLSSG rating scale and sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). RLS incidence was higher in Group 1 (p = 0.034). The PSQI scores were higher in Group 1 and the difference between the groups was determined as statistically significant (p < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was determined in respect of the clinical evaluation and the IRLSSG Symptom Severity Scale between the patients in Group 1 diagnosed with RLS and the patients in Group 2 diagnosed with RLS (p > 0.05). The findings of this study support the hypothesis that RLS is more frequent and more severe in vitamin D deficiency and indicate a negative effect of vitamin deficiency on sleep parameters.

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Conflict of interest

All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest, and the study has no financial support.

Ethical Standard

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.

Informed consent

Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Varlık Mahallesi Kazım Karabekir Caddesi Soğuksu, 07100, Antalya, Turkey

    Tuncay Çakır, Gülsüm Doğan, Meral Bilgilisoy Filiz, Şebnem Koldaş Doğan & Naciye Füsun Toraman

  2. Private Dermancan Medical Center, Adana, Turkey

    Volkan Subaşı

  3. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics, Kaş State Hospital, Kaş, Antalya, Turkey

    Nur Ülker

Authors
  1. Tuncay Çakır
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  2. Gülsüm Doğan
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  3. Volkan Subaşı
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  4. Meral Bilgilisoy Filiz
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  5. Nur Ülker
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  6. Şebnem Koldaş Doğan
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  7. Naciye Füsun Toraman
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Correspondence to Tuncay Çakır.

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Çakır, T., Doğan, G., Subaşı, V. et al. An evaluation of sleep quality and the prevalence of restless leg syndrome in vitamin D deficiency. Acta Neurol Belg 115, 623–627 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-015-0474-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-015-0474-4

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