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Evaluation of affective temperament profile and levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety in patients with restless legs syndrome

  • Neurology • Original Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sleep-related sensorimotor disorder associated with mood and anxiety disorders. Although affective temperaments are considered subclinical manifestations of mood disorders (MDs), to date, no previous research has explored the relationship between affective temperaments and RLS. We aimed to evaluate affective temperaments, depressive symptoms, and anxiety among newly diagnosed, drug-naive patients with RLS. Additionally, our study identified possible associations between clinical variables and affective temperaments, depressive symptoms, and anxiety profiles in this group.

Methods

The study included 74 patients with RLS and 90 healthy volunteers. All participants performed the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, and Hamilton Anxiety Inventory.

Results

Temperament, depression, and anxiety scores in patients with RLS were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (p ≤ 0.05). Linear regression analysis showed that anxious temperament scores were positively related to longer disease duration (β = 0.658, p = 0.000), whereas disease severity (as measured by the International RLS Study Group Rating Scale) (β = 0.447, p = 0.006) and lower educational status (β =  − 0.803, p = 0.008) correlated with the anxiety profile.

Conclusions

Results suggested that higher scores on the affective temperament, depression, and anxiety scales indicate subclinical MDs and psychiatric comorbidities in RLS. Therefore, exploring the predictors of mood and anxiety disorders in patients with RLS may improve treatment strategies and clinical outcomes.

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Abbreviations

BAI:

Beck Anxiety Inventory

BDI:

Beck Depression Inventory

DASS-21:

Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21

DSM-IV:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition

EEG:

Electroencephalography

ESS:

Epworth Sleepiness Scale

HA:

Harm avoidance

HAM-A:

Hamilton Anxiety Inventory

HAM-D:

Hamilton Depression Scale

IRLSS:

 International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Rating Scale

IRLSSG:

International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group

MDD:

Major depressive disorder

MDs:

Mood disorders

RLS:

Restless legs syndrome

SCID:

Semi-structured interview

SD:

Self-directedness

TCI:

Temperament and Character Inventory

TEMPS-A:

Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank all patients and healthy volunteers who participated in our study. We would like to thank Kursat Altınbas (MD) for his permanent support and scientific guidance. We also would like to thank Seval Pazarli for organizing and documenting the files of the patients in the neurology outpatient clinic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Kocaeli Derince Training and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Sehnaz Basaran

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey

    Halil İbrahim Tas

Authors
  1. Sehnaz Basaran
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SB and HIT. Analyzed the data: SB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SB and HIT. Wrote the paper: SB and HIT. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sehnaz Basaran.

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Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Canakkale 18 Mart University Hospital (approval number 2011-KAEK27/2018–1800110195) and adhered to the tenets of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

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

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Basaran, S., Tas, H.İ. Evaluation of affective temperament profile and levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety in patients with restless legs syndrome. Sleep Breath 26, 381–388 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02375-3

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