Association of Restless Leg Syndrome with Sleep Quality and Fatigue in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients with and without Hemodialysis: A Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: RLS, also known as Willis-Ekbom Disease, is a condition that causes uncomfortable or painful feelings in the legs as well as an unquenchable need to move the legs. The symptoms often begin to manifest themselves in the late afternoon or evening. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the Association of RLS with Sleep quality and Fatigue in chronic kidney disease patients with and without Hemodialysis. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 6 months, after the approval of synopsis. The data was collected from four different medical institutions including the University of Lahore Teaching Hospital Lahore, Sheikh Zaid Hospital Lahore, Jinnah Hospital Lahore and Pakistan Kidney Liver Institute Lahore.  RESULTS: Group statistics for two different measures, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), in relation to two different groups, "On Medications" and "On Dialysis." The mean and standard deviation for each measure and group are provided, as well as the mean difference between the two groups for each measure and the corresponding p-value. The p-value indicates the level of statistical significance for the difference in means between the two groups.  CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the association of restless leg syndrome (RLS) with sleep quality and fatigue in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with and without hemodialysis (HD) is well established. Studies have shown that RLS is more common in CKD patients than in the general population, and that the prevalence of RLS increases as the severity of CKD increases.  KEYWORDS: Restless leg syndrome, Sleep quality, Fatigue, kidney disease, Hemodialysis