465 - Is Restless Legs Syndrome More Common in Young Women Compared to Young Men?
Saturday, April 29, 2023
3:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET
Poster Number: 465 Publication Number: 465.216
John Pascoe, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, United States; Baria Choudry, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, United States
Professor Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Dayton, Ohio, United States
Background: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is characterized by an intense unpleasant urge to move one's legs. RLS may occur in association with decreased iron stores. While earlier work has documented that women have lower iron stores than men, few studies have compared the prevalence of RLS in young women compared to young men and girls. Objective: To compare the prevalence of RLS in a large sample of young women compared to young men and younger girls. Design/Methods: The data for this analysis were collected from the 309,853 patients between the ages of 5 years and 19 years seen at Dayton Children's Hospital in the past decade. The deidentified charts of 170,312 children from 12 years to 19 years and 139,541 children from 5 years to 11 years were analyzed. SlicerDicer software was employed to analyze study subjects' EPIC electronic health records. Results: Overall 48% of study subjects were girls or young women. The prevalence of RLS for boys and young men was very stable across the two age subgroups, about .155%. On the other hand, the prevalence of RLS in girls and young women varied widely from .114% in girls 5 years to 11 years to .220% for young women 12 years to 19 years old. The relative risk (RR) for RLS for young women vs young men was clinically important and statistically significant (RR=1.42, p=0.002), while the relative risk for young women vs young girls was even greater (RR=1.92, p< 0.0001). For the younger study children subgroups girls actually had a slightly lower prevalence of RLS than boys (RR=.75, p=0.056) that did not reach statistical significance. The overall prevalence of RLS for this large sample was well below the prevalence report for earlier community based studies.
Conclusion(s): These findings support earlier observations that lower iron stores are associated with the symptoms of RLS. Future studies should include actual laboratory data of iron stores for study subjects in addition to subjects who are at risk for lower levels of iron stores such as menstruating young women.