Restless Legs Syndrome During Pregnancy and 12 Weeks Postpartum and its Links to Cardiovascular Diseases, Stressful Life Events, and Psychiatric History.

Tamme W Goecke,Markus Frensch,Natalia Chechko,Patricia Schnakenberg

doi:10.3390/jcm9093046

Abstract

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is highly prevalent among pregnant women. In the present study, a neurological–obstetrical sample of 561 postpartum women was retrospectively screened for RLS symptoms during pregnancy and in the first 12 weeks postpartum. The first screening took place within 1 to 6 days of delivery (T0) and the second 12 weeks after childbirth (T1). The pregnancy-related RLS prevalence rate was found to be 21% (n = 119), with the women suffering from RLS being more often affected by psychiatric history and having been more exposed to stressful life events. They were also found to have experienced baby blues more frequently shortly after childbirth. However, RLS in pregnancy did not appear to have any effect on the development of postpartum depression. Additionally, a positive trend was observed toward an association between pregnancy-related RLS and gestational diabetes and hypertension. Of the 119 women, 23 (19.3%) remained affected by RLS 12 weeks postpartum. Body mass index (BMI), weight gain, parity, childbearing history, or chronic stress exposure in pregnancy as measured by hair cortisol were not found to be linked to RLS. In summary, a comprehensive understanding of the interaction of clinical, environmental, and anamnestic factors can help shed valuable light on this pregnancy-related condition.

Highlights

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder with a 5–10% prevalence in the adult population [1], affecting roughly twice as many women as men [1,2]
A neurological–obstetrical sample of 561 women in their early postpartum period were retrospectively screened for RLS symptoms during pregnancy
In a neurological–obstetrical sample of 561 postpartum women, we looked at various factors associated with pregnancy and the postpartum period of 12 weeks in the context of RLS

Summary

Introduction

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder with a 5–10% prevalence in the adult population [1], affecting roughly twice as many women as men [1,2]. Experience of RLS in a previous pregnancy and family history of RLS are strong predictors of the condition during an ongoing pregnancy [12]. These observations suggest that genetic vulnerability play a role in the manifestation of pregnancy-related RLS [9]. The available data in this respect are inconclusive [11,17,18,19,20,21,22] Another intriguing aspect of RLS (both pregnancy-related and otherwise) is that it is frequently associated with conditions that are more debilitating than RLS itself. RLS in pregnancy has been more frequently observed in women with pregnancy-related complications such as hypertension, preeclampsia or gestational diabetes [24,25]

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