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Burden of restless legs syndrome on health-related quality of life

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Abstract

Objective

To quantify the total and unique burden of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) on patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Methods

The disease burden that RLS places on HRQoL was estimated by comparing Short-Form (SF-36) scores between individuals with RLS and several patient and general populations in the US. Regression methods were applied to estimate SF-36 normative values from the general population sample and statistically adjust them to match age, gender and disease comorbidity characteristics of the RLS sample. Significance tests were then used to compare the means across samples.

Results

All SF-36 measures were significantly below adjusted US general population norms. Five of the eight scales (physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality) were below US norms by 0.8 or more standard deviations (SD), while the remaining three (social functioning, role emotional, mental health) were 0.5 SD below norm. The burden of RLS was greater on physical than on mental/emotional HRQoL (physical and mental summary scores were 1.08 and 0.40 SD below norm, respectively), and greater than that observed for type-2 diabetes.

Conclusion

After controlling for the impact of age, gender, and disease comorbidity, RLS was associated with unique burden on both physical and mental aspects of HRQoL.

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Abbreviations

HRQoL:

Health-related quality of life

IRLSSG:

International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group

OA:

Osteoarthritis

QoL:

Quality of life

RLS:

Restless legs syndrome

SF-36:

Short-Form 36

SD:

Standard deviation

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by a grant from GlaxoSmithKline that covered costs associated with the design of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford Center of Excellence for Sleep Disorders, Stanford, CA, USA

    Clete Kushida

  2. QualityMetric Incorporated, 640 George Washington Hwy., Suite 201, Lincoln, RI, 02865-4207, USA

    Marie Martin, Bonnie Blaisdell, Gene Wallenstein & John E. Ware Jr

  3. GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, PA, USA

    Prashant Nikam

  4. Department of Neurosciences, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Luigi Ferini-Strambi

  5. Health Assessment Lab, Waltham, MA, USA

    John E. Ware Jr

Authors
  1. Clete Kushida
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  2. Marie Martin
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  3. Prashant Nikam
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  4. Bonnie Blaisdell
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  5. Gene Wallenstein
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  6. Luigi Ferini-Strambi
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  7. John E. Ware Jr
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gene Wallenstein.

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Kushida, C., Martin, M., Nikam, P. et al. Burden of restless legs syndrome on health-related quality of life. Qual Life Res 16, 617–624 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9142-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9142-8

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