Do you ever get the annoying feeling that bugs are crawling around under the skin of your legs? Do you feel a pulling, itching or throbbing sensation in your legs along with an uncontrollable urge to move them, particularly in the evening or nighttime hours?

If so, you may have restless legs syndrome (RLS). No, that is not a made-up name for some minor annoyance. It’s the actual medical term for a very real health problem…and researchers have discovered a very scary risk associated with this disorder. The shocker: Having restless legs is linked with an increased risk for premature death.

STARTLING STUDY

Back in 1986, a group of 51,500 male health-care professionals ages 40 to 75 enrolled in a long-term study, periodically answering questions about their medical histories, diet and lifestyles. In 2002, nearly 32,000 of those men were still alive and participating. They were mailed a questionnaire that asked the same questions posed at the start of this article. Those who answered yes to all of the questions and had symptoms at least five times per month were considered to have RLS. Men who had other disorders with symptoms that could possibly be mistaken for RLS (such as diabetes or arthritis) were excluded. This left 18,425 men in the analysis, about 4% of whom had RLS.

Over the next eight years 2,765 of the men died. Researchers ascertained the causes of death from medical records and death certificates, then analyzed the data. What they found was startling…

  • Men with RLS were 39% more likely to die during the eight-year study period than men without RLS.
  • Even after researchers adjusted for numerous other risk factors (such as body mass index, physical activity level, smoking and alcohol consumption), the death risk associated with RLS was still increased by 30%.
  • Among men who had a chronic illness, those with RLS fared far worse than those without RLS. Examples: Cancer patients without RLS had a 47% increased risk for death, while cancer patients with RLS had a 97% increased risk for death…cardiovascular disease patients without RLS had a 37% increased risk, while cardiovascular disease patients with RLS had a 68% increased risk.
  • When the researchers looked only at the men who were generally healthy and did not have a chronic illness, they found that RLS was associated with almost double the risk of dying. The more frequently the men experienced RLS symptoms, the higher their death risk was.

What did them in: Compared with men who did not have RLS, those who did have the disorder had nearly six times the risk of dying from a blood-related disease (such as anemia)…five times the risk of dying from an immune, endocrine or metabolic disease…and almost twice the risk of dying from respiratory disease.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE CONNECTION?

This research does not prove that RLS causes death, only that the disorder is associated with increased risk. The researchers aren’t sure what is behind this association, but they do have some theories…

Sleep disruption: RLS interferes with restful sleep, and poor sleep has been linked with increased death risk in several earlier studies. One possible reason for this is that shorter sleep duration can lead to changes in levels of certain hormones than can promote the development of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Effect on blood pressure: RLS may contribute to nocturnal hypertension (high blood pressure at night)—and blood pressure problems increase cardiovascular risk.

Neurodegenerative disorder: Even though this study excluded people with Parkinson’s disease, it is possible that RLS is an early symptom of undiagnosed Parkinson’s or some other unidentified neurological disease.

This study included only men, but a more recent study of 57,417 women form the Nurse’s Health Study found that women with RLS were at a significantly higher risk for death from cardiovascular disease when compared with women who did not have RLS.

We don’t know whether getting treated for RLS would reduce a person’s risk of dying early. But treatment certainly can help people sleep better…and the better you sleep, the better your health is likely to be.

So if you have symptoms that suggest RLS, consider this study a wake-up call—bring the matter to your doctor’s attention and ask, “Could this be restless legs?” Although RLS affects an estimated 5% to 10% of the population, the vast majority of sufferers are never formally diagnosed or treated. Diet, lifestyle changes, natural therapies and/or medication can help. For details, see “More on Restless Legs,” above.