18th Congress of the European Geriatric Medicine Society, London, England, 28 - 30 September 2022, vol.13, no.1, pp.153
Objective: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a common sleep disorder which affects quality of life in older individuals. We aimed to find out the geriatric syndromes and other factors significantly associated with RLS in an older study population.
Materials and methods: This was a retrospective-cross sectional study conducted with the participants C 60 years old who admitted to the geriatric outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital. Essential clinical features of RLS had to be present for diagnosis of RLS. Geriatric syndromes like sleep disturbance, falls, polypharmacy (C 5 medications/day), constipation, chronic pain, cognitive impairment, depression, urinary and fecal incontinence, malnutrition, sarcopenia (S), dependency in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and reduced quality of life were assessed. Decreased muscle strength was assessed via handgrip strength measurement and defined as ‘‘probable S’’. Confirmed S was defined as ‘‘decreased muscle strength and mass’’ and muscle mass was assessed via Tanita BC-532 bioimpedance analyzer. We used cut-offs recommended by EWGSOP2 for low muscle strength, and population specific cut-offs for low muscle mass diagnosis. p value of less than 0.05 was accepted as significant.
Results: 1766 older subjects were included, 68.6% were female. Median age was 72 (60–99). RLS was seen in 28.3% and it was significantly higher in female subjects (76.4%). RLS group was younger and had higher number of comorbidities and regular drugs. Sleep disturbance, chronic pain, cognitive impairment, constipation, dependency in IADL, depressive mood, fear of falling, polypharmacy, reduced QoL and urinary incontinence were significantly more prevalent in RLS group. Multivariate analysis revealed that the only factors independently associated with RLS were age (Odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) = 0.94 (0.89–0.99); p\0.01) and cognitive impairment (OR (95% CI) = 2.25 (1.07–4.75); p\0.03).
Conclusion: Only geriatric syndrome independently associated with RLS was cognitive impairment. More studies are needed to identify the relationship between RLS and congitive functions; and to reveal the cognitive profile of the individuals suffering RLS.