Symptoms of restless legs syndrome in a palliative care population: frequency and impact.

OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that restless legs syndrome (RLS) would be common and associated with impaired quality of life (QOL) among palliative care outpatients. METHODS: 76 palliative care clinic patients completed the National Institutes of Health restless legs syndrome (NIH-RLS) screening questionnaire. Questionnaire data was also gathered on RLS severity and RLS-related QOL, and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was used to measure QOL. Analysis was performed for associations between RLS categorization and QOL measures. RESULTS: 31 patients (40.8 percent) met criteria for RLS. RLS-positive patients had moderate-to-severe RLS symptoms and impaired RLS-specific QOL. RLS-positive patients scored lower on the mental component of the SF-12 (39 +/- 11 versus 45 +/- 12, p=0.03), though not on the physical component. In a multivariate regression analysis, higher levels of RLS severity had 2-point lower SF-12 mental component scores compared to lower levels of RLS severity (p=0.04), with no difference in physical component scores (p=0.47). CONCLUSION: RLS appears common in palliative care outpatients and is associated with impairments in QOL.