Background: Sleep is one of the most fundamental human needs; without any doubt sleep is even more essential for sick patients, especially for patients with chronic illnesses. Sleep disturbance may lead to anxiety and reduced quality of life. Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a sensory-motor disorder accompanied by a strong desire to move the legs or other parts of the body, which can cause sleep disturbance. Its etiology is unknown, but increased urea and creatinine levels before dialysis, iron deficiency due to kidney failure and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are mentioned as causes.
Objectives: This study is designed to examine the prevalence of insomnia and restless leg syndrome in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis in Rafsanjan Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital.
Patients and methods: In this study we used two questionnaires to evaluate the presence of RLS and insomnia in ESRD patients who were undergoing hemodialysis treatment as kidney replacement therapy.
Results: According to our results, 54.5% of patients were diagnosed with RLS, and of those 65.2% and 42.9% were women and men, respectively. RLS is seen more often among patients with blood group type A, but this result was not statistically significant. There was a statistically significant correlation between RLS and a positive family history of RLS, between RLS and the number of hemodialysis treatments per week and also between RLS and the Insomnia Severity Index. Unlike previous studies, in this study we did not find any statistically significant correlation between RLS and biochemical factors such as serum iron, TIBC, BUN, creatinine, potassium, calcium and phosphorous levels.
Conclusions: The frequency of RLS among our patients was remarkable and we conclude that all patients who are undergoing hemodialysis should be screened for RLS, which can assist in providing proper attention and treatment.
Keywords: Hemodialysis; Insomnia; Restless Leg Syndrome.