Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

OBJECTIVE

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are common neurological disorders that respond to dopaminergic therapy. RLS prevalence among people with PD varies widely (0-38%) in the literature, complicating efforts to understand whether the two diseases might be associated.

METHOD

The databases Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and SinoMed were searched for observational and case-control studies of RLS prevalence in PD. Eligible studies were meta-analyzed using Stata 12.0.

RESULTS

Pooled RLS prevalence in PD among various patient populations was 14%, and prevalence in Asia (12%) was slightly lower than outside Asia (16%). Prevalence was higher among patients who had previously received PD treatment (15%) than among drug-naïve patients (11%). Prevalence of RLS was higher in female PD patients (13%) than in male patients (11%). RLS prevalence was much higher among PD patients than among healthy controls (OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.10-3.90; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis may provide the first reliable pooled estimate of RLS prevalence in PD, and strong evidence that RLS risk is higher among PD patients than among healthy individuals.