Restless leg syndrome nearly triples suicide risk: Study


New York, Aug 25 (IANS): People with restless legs syndrome (RLS) may be at significantly higher risk of suicide and self-harm, warns a new study.

Using Big Data, the researchers found that people with restless legs syndrome had a 2.7- fold higher risk of suicide or self-harm, even if they didn't suffer from conditions such as depression, insomnia, diabetes and so on.

Restless legs syndrome causes an uncomfortable feeling in a person's legs resulting in the urge to move them, often during the night.

"Our study suggests that restless legs syndrome isn't just connected to physical conditions, but to mental health, as well," said Xiang Gao, Associate Professor at Penn State University in the US.

The study looked at health records of 24,179 people who had been diagnosed with RLS and 145,194 people who did not have RLS.

All participants were free of suicide and self-harm at the baseline of the study.

After analysing the data, the researchers found that people, who had restless leg syndrome, had a 270 per cent higher chance of suicide or self-harm than people who did not.

The risk did not decrease even when the researchers controlled for such factors as depression, sleep disorders and common chronic diseases.

"After controlling for these factors, we still didn't see the association decrease, meaning RLS could still be an independent variable contributing to suicide and self-harm," said Muzi Na from Penn State.

"We still don't know the exact reason, but our results can help shape future research to learn more about the mechanism."

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open.

  

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Comment on this article

  • Ann Pinto, Mangalore

    Mon, Aug 26 2019

    Restless leg syndrome is one of the symptoms of insulin resistance before one gets diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes....I too had it for years and was advised to wear compression stockings which too caused a lot of discomfort
    I wasn't on any medication except advised to wear compression stockings during the day and when travelling. It didn't help me much.
    I started Intermittent Fasting nearly 3 years ago and one of the many benefits of IF was getting healed of my restless leg syndrome.

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse


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