Restless Legs Syndrome Tied to Earlier Death Risk

Older men with condition have 39 percent increase in mortality, study suggests

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Men with restless legs syndrome now have another health concern: New research has just linked the condition to an increased risk of dying early.

In a study of nearly 20,000 men, Harvard researchers found that men with restless legs syndrome had a 39 percent higher risk of an early death than did men without the condition.

"This study suggests that individuals with restless legs syndrome are more likely to die early than other people," said study author Dr. Xiang Gao, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "This association was independent of other known risk factors."

"[However], this is an observational study," Gao said of the findings, which were published online June 12 in the journal Neurology. "We can only see an association that suggests a possible causal relationship."

Restless legs syndrome is a common condition that causes people to feel an uncomfortable sensation in their legs when lying down, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The feeling may be a throbbing, pulling or creeping sensation. Restless legs syndrome makes it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.

The exact cause of restless legs syndrome is unknown. It does seem to run in families, suggesting a genetic component to the condition, according to the NINDS. Restless legs syndrome has also been linked to some medical conditions, such as kidney disease and the nerve disorder peripheral neuropathy. It's also associated with the use of certain medications, and may occur during pregnancy.

Gao said many people with restless legs syndrome have low iron levels, and taking iron supplements often can alleviate the symptoms of restless legs syndrome. But, he cautioned, too much iron can be dangerous, so be sure to have your doctor check your iron levels before taking any supplements.

The current study included nearly 18,500 American men who were followed for eight years. At the start of the study, none of the men had diabetes, arthritis or kidney failure. The average age at the start of the study was 67.

Almost 4 percent (690 men) of the study group was diagnosed with restless legs syndrome. Men with restless legs syndrome were more likely to take antidepressant drugs and have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or Parkinson's disease. Not surprisingly, men with restless legs syndrome had more frequent complaints of insomnia.

During the study follow-up, nearly 2,800 men died.

When the researchers compared those with restless legs syndrome to those without, they found that men who had the condition were 39 percent more likely to die during the study period than men without the condition. When they controlled for factors such as body mass, lifestyle factors, chronic conditions and sleep duration, the mortality risk for men with restless legs syndrome dropped to 30 percent.

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Smokers Die About a Decade Earlier on Average

Jan. 23, 2013 -- Women who smoke are now just as likely to die of lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases as men -- and smokers of both sexes die, on average, about a decade earlier than non-smokers.

These were among the findings from two major studies examining death rate trends among smokers published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

"The studies highlight the fact that cigarette smoking remains a leading cause of death in the U.S.,” says Steven A. Schroeder, MD, who directs the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

“We tend to think of smoking as a done deal because most upper class, educated people no longer smoke or know people who [no longer] do,” he says. “But it still exerts a huge toll, and the influence of the tobacco companies is still strong.”

Michael J. Thun, MD, of the American Cancer Society, led a study that tracked smoking deaths over three time periods during the last 50 years. He says the new data confirms that women who smoke have the same risk for death as men.

The analysis included about 2.2 million adults who were age 55 and older.

“When women smoke like men, they die like men,” Thun says.

Women started smoking cigarettes in large numbers in the 1960s, about two decades after men had large smoking rates. Smoking rates were among their highest late in the '60s, when around 1 in 3 adult women smoked, according to the CDC.

Thun says it is no accident that this is when tobacco giant Philip Morris introduced its Virginia Slims brand, the first cigarette marketed solely to women.

The study shows a 23-fold increase in the risk of dying from lung cancer among women smokers between1960 and 2000.

“It takes about 50 years for an epidemic to really get going, and we are just beginning to see the impact of the increase in smoking among women during this time period in terms of deaths from smoking,” he says.

In a second analysis, researchers determined that people who smoke into middle age lose about a decade of life to the habit, but smokers who stop before the age of 40 regain most of these lost years.

The researchers examined data on about 200,000 men and women over age 25 interviewed between 1997 and 2004, and identified about 16,000 who had died several years later.

They found that:

Smokers who quit in their mid-30s to mid-40s gained about nine years of life. Those who quit from their mid-40s to mid-50s gained about six. Those who quit later than this, but before age 65, gained about four additional years.Smokers between the ages of 25 to 79 were three times as likely to die as non-smokers in the same age group.People who never smoke are about twice as likely as smokers to live to age 80.

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