Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sleep Med. 2021 Dec;88:68-73. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2021.10.008. Epub 2021 Oct 15.
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a neurological sensorimotor disorder that occurs in the evening and night, thereby often impacting quality of sleep in sufferers. The aetiology of RLS is not completely understood although iron dysregulation has been suggested as a likely pathway. The relationship between RLS and the iron regulatory protein hepcidin has not been studied in large cohorts. We aimed to assess whether an association between plasma hepcidin variation and RLS exists in a large cohort of healthy individuals.
Plasma hepcidin levels were measured in 9708 Danish blood donors from the Danish Blood Donor Study all of whom correctly completed the validated Cambridge-Hopkins RLS-questionnaire for RLS assessment.
A total of 466 blood donors were determined as current RLS cases in the sample (4.8%). RLS cases had a significantly higher proportion of females (56.7% vs 46.7%; P < 0.001) and were older (median age [IQR] 40.6 years vs 38.0 years; P = 0.010) than controls. RLS cases were also more frequent smokers (P = 0.004). No significant differences were found in body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, time of donation and donation history between cases and controls. No difference in plasma hepcidin levels was observed between RLS cases and controls (median concentration [IQR]: 10.5 ng/ml [6.3-16.4] in RLS cases vs 10.5 ng/ml [6.0-16.5] in controls). Using a logistic regression model, we found that hepcidin levels were not associated with RLS after adjusting for age, sex, alcohol consumption, smoking status, donation time and donation history (OR = 1.00 [0.99-1.02] per 1 ng/ml increase of hepcidin; P = 0.429).
Our study in Danish blood donors did not find an association between RLS and plasma hepcidin levels. Our findings suggest that plasma hepcidin's role as a potential diagnostic biomarker of RLS is inadequate.
不宁腿综合征（RLS）是一种发生在傍晚和夜间的神经感觉运动障碍，常导致患者睡眠质量下降。RLS 的病因尚不完全清楚，尽管铁调节异常已被认为是一种可能的途径。RLS 与铁调节蛋白铁调素之间的关系尚未在大样本队列中进行研究。我们旨在评估在大量健康个体中，血浆铁调素的变化与 RLS 之间是否存在关联。
我们对来自丹麦献血者研究的 9708 名丹麦献血者的血浆铁调素水平进行了测量，所有献血者均正确完成了用于 RLS 评估的经过验证的剑桥-霍普金斯 RLS 问卷。
在样本中，共有 466 名献血者被确定为当前 RLS 病例（4.8%）。RLS 病例中女性的比例明显更高（56.7%比 46.7%；P<0.001），年龄更大（中位数[IQR]：40.6 岁比 38.0 岁；P=0.010）。RLS 病例中吸烟者也更为常见（P=0.004）。病例组和对照组之间在体重指数（BMI）、饮酒、献血时间和献血史方面无显著差异。RLS 病例和对照组之间的血浆铁调素水平无差异（中位数浓度[IQR]：RLS 病例为 10.5ng/ml[6.3-16.4]，对照组为 10.5ng/ml[6.0-16.5]）。使用逻辑回归模型，我们发现在校正年龄、性别、饮酒、吸烟状况、献血时间和献血史后，铁调素水平与 RLS 无关（每增加 1ng/ml 铁调素，OR=1.00[0.99-1.02]；P=0.429）。
我们在丹麦献血者中的研究未发现 RLS 与血浆铁调素水平之间存在关联。我们的研究结果表明，血浆铁调素作为 RLS 潜在诊断生物标志物的作用不足。
