Restless Leg Syndrome and Objectively-Measured Atherosclerosis in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Background: Previous studies suggest associations between restless leg syndrome (RLS) and atherosclerosis, but these have primarily been based upon subjective atherosclerotic measures.

Objective: We evaluated associations between RLS and an objective indicator of atherosclerosis, namely carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT).

Methods: In this cross-sectional study among 30,097 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) participants, we used a four-item questionnaire to screen for probable-RLS. cIMT was measured at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. Associations were tested with linear regression adjusting for age, sex, ferritin, pulmonary disease, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, anxiety, depression, and other sleep diagnoses.

Results: Among 26,304 included participants, 2047 (7.8%) had probable-RLS. Mean cIMT was higher (0.755 ± 0.17 vs 0.736 ± 0.17, P < 0.001) in those with RLS, even after excluding those without prior atherosclerotic diseases (0.740 ± 0.17 vs 0.723 ± 0.16, P = 0.016).

Conclusion: RLS is associated with objective measures of atherosclerosis. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.