Abstract
The prevalence, clinical significance and awareness of restless legs syndrome (RLS) have not been well identified in Japan. We conducted an Internet-based survey on the general Japanese population. Using an Internet-linked questionnaire, we evaluated 8126 respondents, consisting of a cross-section of Japanese adults aged 20 to 59 years. The questionnaire items consisted of demographic variables, the National Institute of Health/International RLS Study Group (IRLSSG) consensus questionnaire, the IRLSSG rating scale (IRLS), the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and questions regarding diagnosis and treatment. Probable RLS was found in 326 participants (4.01%). The prevalence was significantly higher in women (4.9%) than in men (3.0%), but did not differ by age. Most of the probable participants had mild to moderate IRLS severity and their average PSQI score was significantly higher than in unaffected participants. No probable RLS participants had been diagnosed with RLS, and only 7.7% had sought medical assistance. The prevalence of probable RLS in Japan is higher than in previous reports in Asia and, despite its low severity, the disorder is also thought to contribute to sleep disturbances in affected individuals. RLS is not well recognized in Japan and so promoting RLS awareness is necessary.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ekbom KA. Restless legs syndrome. Neurology 1960; 10: 863–73.
Allen RP, Picchietti D, Hening WA et al. Restless Legs Syndrome Diagnosis and Epidemiology Workshop at the National Institutes of Health; International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group. Restless legs syndrome: diagnostic criteria, special considerations, and epidemiology. A report from the restless legs syndrome diagnosis and epidemiology workshop at the National Institutes of Health. Sleep Med. 2003; 4: 101–19.
Rothdach AJ, Trenkwalder C, Haberstock J, Keil U, Berger K. Prevalence and risk factors of RLS in an elderly population: the MEMO Study. Memory and Morbidity in Augsburg Elderly. Neurology 2000; 54: 1064–8.
Lavigne GJ, Montplaisir JY. Restless legs syndrome and sleep bruxism: prevalence and association among Canadians. Sleep 1994; 17: 739–43.
Chokroverty S, Jankovic J. Restless legs syndrome: a disease in search of identity. Neurology 1999; 52: 907–10.
Tan EK, Seah A, See SJ et al. Restless legs syndrome in an Asian population: a study in Singapore. Mov. Disord. 2001; 16: 577–9.
Mizuno S, Miyaoka T, Inagaki T, Horguchi J. Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in non-institutionalized Japanese elderly. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2005; 59: 461–5.
Littner MR, Kushida C, Anderson WM et al. Treatment resistant group. Practice parameters for the dopaminergic treatment of restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder. Sleep 2004; 27: 557–9.
Hening W, Walters AS, Allen RP et al. Impact, diagnosis and treatment of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a primary care population: the REST (RLS epidemiology, symptoms, and treatment) primary care study. Sleep Med. 2004; 5: 237–46.
Allen RP, Walters AS, Montplaisir J et al. Restless legs syndrome prevalence and impact: REST general population study. Arch. Intern. Med. 2005; 165: 1286–92.
Tison F, Crochard A, Leger D et al. Epidemiology of restless legs syndrome in French adults. A nationwide survey: The INSTANT Study. Neurology 2005; 65: 239–46.
Rijsman R, Neven AK, Graffelman W et al. Epidemiology of restless legs in The Netherlands. Eur. J. Neurol. 2004; 11: 607–11.
Allen RP, Kushida CA, Atkinson MJ, RLS QoL Consortium. Factor analysis of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group’s scale for restless legs severity. Sleep Med. 2003; 4: 133–5.
Angelico F, Del Ben M, Francioso S et al. Attitudes and approach to cardiovascular risk factors in Italy: results of an electronic questionnaire survey. Public Health 2003; 117: 242–9.
Doi Y, Minowa M, Uchiyama M et al. Psychometric assessment of subjective sleep quality using the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) in psychiatric disordered and control subjects. Psychiatry Res. 2000; 97: 165–72.
The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group. Validation of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group rating scale for restless leg syndrome. Sleep Med. 2003; 4: 121–32.
Im EO, Chee W. Recruitment of research participants through the Internet. Comput. Inform. Nurs. 2004; 22: 289–97.
Sevim S, Dogu O, Camdeviren H et al. Unexpectedly low prevalence and unusual characteristics of RLS in Mersin, Turkey. Neurology 2003; 61: 1562–9.
Hogl B, Kiechl S, Willeit J et al. Restless legs syndrome: a community-based study of prevalence, severity, and risk factors. Neurology 2005; 64: 1920–4.
Bjorvatn B, Leissner L, Ulfberg J et al. Prevalence, severity and risk factors of restless legs syndrome in the general adult population in two Scandinavian countries. Sleep Med. 2005; 6: 307–12.
Berger K, Luedemann J, Trenkwalder C et al. Sex and the risk of restless legs syndrome in the general population. Arch. Intern. Med. 2004; 164: 196–202.
Kageyama T, Kabuto M, Nitta H et al. Prevalences of periodic limb movement-like and restless legs-like symptoms among Japanese adults. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2000; 54: 296–8.
Kim J, Choi C, Shin K et al. Prevalence of restless legs syndrome and associated factors in the Korean adult population: the Korean Health and Genome Study. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2005; 59: 350–3.
Enomoto M, Li L, Aritake S et al. Restless legs syndrome and its correlation with other sleep problems in the general adult population. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 2006; 4: 153–9.
Nichols DA, Kushida C, Allen R et al. Validation of RLS diagnostic questions in a primary care practice [Abstract]. Sleep 2003; 26: A346.
Nomura T, Inoue Y, Miyake M et al. Prevalence and clinical characteristics of restless legs syndrome in Japanese patients with Parkinson’s disease. Mov. Disord. 2006; 21: 380–4.
Kawauchi A, Inoue Y, Hachimoto T et al. Restless legs syndrome in hemodialysis patients: health-related quality of life and laboratory data analysis. Clin. Nephrol. 2006; 66: 440–6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nomura, T., Inoue, Y., Kusumi, M. et al. Email-based epidemiological surveys on restless legs syndrome in Japan. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 6, 139–145 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2008.00349.x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2008.00349.x