Familial Restless Legs Syndrome: A Family with all Female Patients.

BACKGROUND

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a chronic condition characterized by odd sensations in the body, most commonly in the legs and an irresistible urge to move them. More than half of the patients with RLS have a family history. Most of the RLS cases are women and most of the families show characteristics of an autosomal dominant pedigree. Here, we shall present a family consisting only of women; to our knowledge, such a family has not been reported yet.

METHODS

The family presented here met the diagnosis criteria specified by International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSS). Clinical characteristic are described along with demographic properties.

RESULTS

The patients were between 12 and 59 years of age with a mean age of 35.3 ± 14.4 years. All 7 cases were women. The pedigree of the patients exhibited an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern.

CONCLUSIONS

The present family tree indicates that familial RLS can exhibit a heredity pattern which shows autosomal dominant inheritance. The present family is still under follow-up. Future research is required to support the present data.