losartan-potassium and Restless-Legs-Syndrome

To assess the prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in anemic patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) and to evaluate the effect of anemia treatment on RLS.. 38 anemic CHF-CRF patients were treated with subcutaneous Erythropoietin (EPO) and intravenous (IV) iron over 1 year. They were questioned initially and at 3 months post treatment about symptoms of RLS according to standard criteria. They were also contacted by telephone about RLS symptoms 12 months after onset of anemia treatment.. RLS was found in 15 (39.5%) of the 38 patients. In 10 (66.7%) patients it was present at least 6 days a week. The prevalence of the RLS initially was not related to Hb, to serum iron or % Transferrin Saturation. Diabetes and lower serum ferritin were more common in the RLS group (p<0.05). After 3 months of treatment, Hb increased from 10.4+/-0.8 to 12.3+/-1.2 g/dl, but RLS symptoms did not change. By 12 months the prevalence and frequency of RLS complaints was similar to what it had been initially.. RLS is common and often undiagnosed and untreated in anemic CHF-CRF patients. Unfortunately, successful treatment of anemia with EPO and IV iron did not improve this condition.

Topics: Aged; Anemia; Erythropoietin; Female; Heart Failure; Humans; Iron; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Restless Legs Syndrome

Topics: Adult; Erythropoietin; Female; Humans; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Polyethylene Glycols; Restless Legs Syndrome

The restless legs syndrome (RLS) is divided into two forms: idiopathic and secondary. About half the cases of the former are found to have a positive family history. The lack of objective and quantitative parameters in familial RLS also represents a drawback for genetic studies. We tried to find a feature distinguishing the sporadic from the familial forms of the RLS.. RLS patients were examined for clinical picture and laboratory markers including erythropoietin levels. Patients with a priori known causes of secondary RLS, were excluded. All biochemical and hematological parameters were standardized for sex and age groups relative to the population mean and standard deviation.. In our set of 311 patients (65.3% women, mean age 54.6 years, SD 14.7 years) 96 reported positive family history (64.6% women, mean age 53.1 years, SD 15.8 years). We found a significantly lower age at the onset of RLS symptoms in familial cases (mean 29.3 vs. 44.0, Z 5.9, p<0.0001), and, in sporadic cases, a significantly lower absolute count of red blood cells (Z -2.02, p=0.043 respectively). Erythropoietin levels in the familial cases were significantly lower than in the reference population (median -2.26 SDs from the mean). None of the other parameters were significantly different between the groups.. Our results confirm previously published lower age at symptom onset in familial RLS and provide the first evidence of lower erythropoietin levels in RLS patients. These observations might help to identify the specific phenotype for genetic association studies.

Topics: Adult; Age of Onset; Erythrocyte Count; Erythropoietin; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pedigree; Restless Legs Syndrome

Topics: Anemia; Erythropoietin; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory; Recombinant Proteins; Renal Dialysis; Restless Legs Syndrome; Uremia