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Restless legs syndrome and sleep quality among adult sickle cell disease patients

  • Neurology • Original Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study is to determine and compare the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) between adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and non-SCD anemia.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2013 to July 2014. Patients with SCD and non-SCD anemia were recruited from a hematology clinic at a large university hospital. Patients with secondary RLS were excluded. Data were collected on demographic features, clinical evaluations, laboratory tests, sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, RLS symptoms using the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Criteria, severity of RLS using the International Restless Leg Syndrome Rating Scale, and daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

Results

The study sample consisted of 44 patients with SCD and 45 with non-SCD anemia. The two groups were comparable in age, gender, body mass index, smoking habit, and comorbidities. Poor sleep quality was found in 63% of the SCD group compared to 53% of the non-SCD group. The prevalence of RLS among SCD group and non-SCD group was 13.6% (6/44) and 8.8% (4/45), respectively. These differences, however, were not statistically significant, p > 0.05. Excessive daytime sleepiness was also similar in both groups, with the rate being 20.5 and 17.8% in the SCD and non-SCD groups, respectively.

Conclusion

Our study revealed that poor sleep quality and RLS were both common among adult patients with SCD; however, they did not differ significantly from patients with non-SCD anemia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Mohammad Qari and Prof. Gazi Damnhory, hematology consultants at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, for their great support in recruiting patients for our study. The authors would also like to appreciate the great proficiency of Mrs. Walaa Abuzahra, the research coordinator of Sleep Medicine and Research Center.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep Medicine and Research Center, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, PO BOX 21589, Jeddah, 80215, Saudi Arabia

    Siraj Omar Wali & Rajaa Alsaggaf

  2. International Medical Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Ibrahim AlQassas

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Roah Merdad

  4. Department of Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Fatin Al-sayes

Authors
  1. Siraj Omar Wali
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  2. Ibrahim AlQassas
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  3. Roah Merdad
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  4. Rajaa Alsaggaf
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  5. Fatin Al-sayes
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Contributions

Siraj Wali: designed the study and contributed in data interpretation and in writing the manuscript

Ibrahim AlQassas: contributed in data interpretation and in writing the manuscript

Roah Merdad: performed the statistical analysis of the study, contributed in data interpretation and writing the manuscript

Rajaa Alsaggaf: contributed in collecting and interpretation of data, and in writing the manuscript

Fatin Al-sayes: designed the study and contributed in editing the whole manuscript

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Siraj Omar Wali.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee at the Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Informed consent

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

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Wali, S.O., AlQassas, I., Merdad, R. et al. Restless legs syndrome and sleep quality among adult sickle cell disease patients. Sleep Breath 22, 495–501 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-017-1592-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-017-1592-4

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