A CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH ON RESTLESS LEGS SYNDROME (RLS) IN THE PATIENTS OF END STAGE RENAL DISEASE (ESRD) AND IT’S ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN THE LIGHT OF REVISED INTERNATIONAL RLS CRITERIA (2012)

Objective: The research design was cross sectional survey which was carried out to find out the Restless legs syndrome (RLS) prevalence in the patients of end stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis (HD). Methods: We obtained this data from a total of 250 patients through chronic maintenance HD. For the assessment of the RLS prevalence, RLS criteria for the clinical diagnostic was made through the research group of international RLS. Results: Research sample size was 250 cases with the male and female proportion of 153 males (61.2%) and 97 females (38.8%) respectively. The factor of mean age was observed as (45.27) years. HD mean duration was (26.10) months. We found a total of 162 RLS cases (64.8%). In the total of 153 males, 87 cases (56%) were diagnosed with RLS and among in the 97 females, 75 cases (77.3%) were diagnosed with RLS. We observed in this research that significant involvement of the gender was present in the research outcomes which was linked with RLS as p-value was observed as (0.001). Concerning to group of age 159 cases (63.6%) were under 51 years of age; in this number 102 cases (64.1%) were diagnosed with RLS; whereas, 91cases (36.4%) were above or equal to 51 years and in the patients of this group 60 cases suffered from RLS (65.9%). It was noticed that no significant link was present in age group and RLS with a significant p-value as (0.776). Conclusions: The patients undergoing routine HD are observed with a common incidence of RLS. Females are commonly observed in this incidence and dominate males. Key Words: Restless legs syndrome (RLS), End stage renal disease (ESRD) and Hemodialysis (HD).