Prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in children with thalassemia major in Ali Asghar Hospital in Zahedan, Iran

Thalassemia major is one of the most debilitating chronic and inherited diseases caused by impaired hemoglobin production. To improve the quality of life in the long-term treatment of thalassemia patients, it is necessary to pay special attention to sleep-related disorders such as restless legs syndrome. The present study, thus, attempts to determine the frequency of restless legs syndrome in children and adolescents with thalassemia major.
This study was performed on 302 patients with thalassemia major with an age range of 5-20 years in Ali Asghar Hospital in Zahedan in 2018. After obtaining the patients’ consent and their information including age, sex, underlying disease, history of drug use, Insomnia, splenectomy, oral and injectable iron depletion, and serum ferritin levels, as well as restless legs syndrome were recorded. Then the data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software. Chi-square and T-test were used to compare the data.
The results of this study revealed that the prevalence percentage of Restless Legs Syndrome in children and adolescents with thalassemia major was 17.2%. In addition, it had a direct and significant relationship with vitamin D (p-value=0.008) and calcium (p-value<0.001) intake by patients; and it was higher in patients with Insomnia (p-value=0.004). However, there was no significant relationship between this syndrome and the age, underlying disease, the use of cardiac drugs and growth hormone, splenectomy, iron depletion or serum ferritin level. (p-value>0.05)
Due to the high prevalence of RLS in patients with thalassemia major, especially in patients with a history of vitamin D and calcium intake, screening for RLS is necessary. In this way, taking medical measures can help improving the quality of life among these patients.