Objective: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are common neurological disorders that respond to dopaminergic therapy. RLS prevalence among people with PD varies widely (0-38%) in the literature, complicating efforts to understand whether the two diseases might be associated.
Method: The databases Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and SinoMed were searched for observational and case-control studies of RLS prevalence in PD. Eligible studies were meta-analyzed using Stata 12.0.
Results: Pooled RLS prevalence in PD among various patient populations was 14%, and prevalence in Asia (12%) was slightly lower than outside Asia (16%). Prevalence was higher among patients who had previously received PD treatment (15%) than among drug-naïve patients (11%). Prevalence of RLS was higher in female PD patients (13%) than in male patients (11%). RLS prevalence was much higher among PD patients than among healthy controls (OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.10-3.90; p < 0.001).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis may provide the first reliable pooled estimate of RLS prevalence in PD, and strong evidence that RLS risk is higher among PD patients than among healthy individuals.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease; Prevalence; Restless legs syndrome.
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