Department of Psychiatry, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
Department of Neurology, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
J Clin Sleep Med. 2021 May 1;17(5):1051-1056. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.9136.
To assess the seasonality of restless legs syndrome (RLS) using data from the Korean national health insurance database.
We retrospectively reviewed a randomly selected sample representing 3% of the national health insurance claims database in South Korea. From this sample, we obtained the monthly numbers of patients with RLS and diagnoses from 2009 to 2016, along with prescriptions for monthly dopamine agonists and clonazepam for patients with RLS from 2009 to 2013. Total dopamine agonist and clonazepam doses were converted to levodopa-equivalent doses, and the monthly cumulative prescription dose was calculated. Cosinor analysis was used to evaluate the seasonal pattern of each variable.
This study included 11,466 patients with RLS and their diagnoses and 4,887 prescriptions for dopamine agonists and clonazepam. There were significant seasonal patterns in the numbers of patients with RLS (P < .001) and diagnoses (P < .001), both of which peaked in August. The magnitude of the greatest difference in the number of patients with RLS between August (highest) and February (lowest) was 29.96% (95% confidence interval, 24.03-100.80), and that of the number of RLS diagnoses was 39.56% (95% confidence interval, 31.24-47.89). The cumulative prescription dose of medication showed no significant seasonality.
Our findings suggest that the prevalence of RLS is seasonally affected, with an increase during summer.
利用韩国国家健康保险数据库的数据评估不安腿综合征（RLS）的季节性。
我们回顾性地分析了韩国国家健康保险数据库中随机抽取的 3%的样本。从该样本中，我们获得了 2009 年至 2016 年 RLS 患者和诊断的每月数量，以及 2009 年至 2013 年 RLS 患者每月多巴胺激动剂和氯硝西泮的处方。将总多巴胺激动剂和氯硝西泮剂量转换为左旋多巴等效剂量，并计算每月累积处方剂量。采用余弦分析评估各变量的季节性模式。
本研究共纳入 11466 例 RLS 患者及其诊断和 4887 例多巴胺激动剂和氯硝西泮的处方。RLS 患者数量（P <.001）和诊断数量（P <.001）存在显著季节性模式，两者均在 8 月达到高峰。RLS 患者数量最高的 8 月（最高）和最低的 2 月（最低）之间的差异最大幅度为 29.96%（95%置信区间，24.03-100.80），RLS 诊断数量为 39.56%（95%置信区间，31.24-47.89）。药物累积处方剂量无明显季节性。
我们的研究结果表明，RLS 的患病率受季节性影响，夏季增加。
