Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression Levels and Suicide in Restless Legs Syndrome

Abstract

Background:Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological disease. RLS can cause serious problems especially in transition to sleep and in the continuation of sleep. Since RLS is a treatable neurological disease, it is important to diagnose it. Since there is a close relationship between depression and RLS, suicide or suicide attempt may be a cause of high mortality in depression due to RLS. we wanted to emphasize.

Materials and Methods: A total of 171 individuals, 82 individuals diagnosed with RLS and 89 healthy individuals without RLS diagnosis, were included by random sampling method. After the necessary information was given to those who volunteered to participate in the study and their consent was obtained, the necessary evaluation scales were applied through face-to-face evaluation interviews.

Results:When the participants were compared according to their age; The age of the patient group ranged from 20 to 75 and the mean age was 52.52±14.64. When the groups were compared according to the scale scores; BAI and RLSSS scores of the patient group were significantly higher than the control group. When the scale scores were compared according to the RLS stages; There was a significant difference between the BDI scores according to the stages. Considering the correlations of scale scores in the patient group; No significant correlation was observed between RLSSS and BID scores.

Conclusions: Somatoform disorder and chronic pain were found to be high in RLS. Depression and anxiety disorders can be seen more frequently in RLS patients, especially due to sleep disturbance caused by RLS. Although suicidal thoughts were reported to be higher in people with RLS, our study indicated that the suicide rate did not increase in individuals with RLS.

Key words: Restless legs syndrome, Depression and anxiety disorder, Suicide