Abstract:

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of restless legs syndreme (RLS) in our hemodialysis center, to analyze the potential influencing factors of RLS, and to investigate the relationship between RLS and the quality of life or sleep disturbances. Methods The RLS was diagnosed according to the criteria of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG). The subjects' quality of sleep and life were assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and SF-36, respectively. The following data were collected: age, gender, duration of HD, times of HD weekly, Kt/V, pre-dialysis blood concentrations of creatinine, hemoglobin, hematocrit, ferritin, transferrin saturation, total calcium, phosphorus, Ca×P product, and intact parathyroid hormone,t test and 2 test were performed on above factors between patients with RLS and those without RLS. Control group of HD patients without RLS was randomly selected to evaluate the influence of RLS on the quality of life and sleep in maintenance HD patients. Results All the 108 HD patients in our center were enrolled in the study. RLS was found in 13.0% (7 men, 7 women) of HD patients. There were no significant differences in duration of HD, times of HD weekly or other biochemical parameters between patients with RLS and those without RLS. In the case-control study, PSQI of RLS group was higher than PSQI of without-RLS group (10.86+/-5.48 vs 4.93+/-4.73, P=0.005). Moreover, the RLS severity was correlated with the subjective sleep quality (r＝0.576, P＜0.05) and the SF-36 score in RLS group (r＝-0.661，P＝0.01). Conclusion The prevalence of RLS of HD patients from our center was 13.0%. Poor sleep quality was found in RLS patients, mainly in subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency and daytime dysfunction. The RLS severity influenced the quality of life.

Key words: The Quality of life, the Quality of sleep, Maintenance hemodialysis