Gulhane Medical Journal, vol.64, no.1, pp.84-88, 2022 (Scopus)
© Copyright 2022 by the University of Health Sciences Turkey,Gülhane Faculty of Medicine / Gülhane Medical Journal published by Galenos Publishing House.Aims: The prevalence of Restless legs syndrome (RLS) in migraine patients is estimated to be 8.7-39.0%. In this study,we set out to compare the frequency of RLS in patients diagnosed with migraine with headache free participants. Methods: We included 201 patients with migraine with or without aura and age and gendermatched 102 headache free group from outpatient setting in this cross-sectional study. None of the migraine patients were receiving prophylactic medications that could affect dopamine metabolism. Patients with comorbidities such as kidney disease,Parkinson’s disease,rheumatoid arthritis,and polyneuropathy were excluded from this study. The headache free participants had no neurological or systemic disease,no addiction/and no medical treatment. The frequency and severity (with RLS Rating Scale) of RLS was examined in two groups. Results: 40.3% (n=81) of the migraine patients met the diagnostic criteria for RLS than the headaches-free participants (15.7%,n=16) (p<0.001). The RLS (+) and RLS (-) migraine groups were similar in terms of age,gender,number of attacks per month,presence of aura,smoking,and family history for RLS. Disease duration was longer in the migraine patients with RLS and RLS severity was higher in patients with longer disease duration (p<0.001 and p=0.05). Five of six patients with hypertension and migraine patients had RLS (vs. 76 of 195 for patients without hypertension,p=0.04). Logistic regression analysis showed a significant association only between the disease duration and the presence of RLS [Odds ratio: 13.25,(95% confidence interval: 5.62-31.24),p=0.001]. Conclusions: This study found almost three times higher frequency of RLS in patients with migraine. RLS symptoms should be questioned during the management of patients with a migraine diagnosis,particularly in long-standing disease.