Prevalence and effect of restless legs syndrome on quality of life and sleep quality in menopausal women

This is a descriptive and comparative study to determine prevalence and effect of the Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) on quality of life and sleep quality in menopausal women. Study sample consisted of a total of 615 menopausal women presented to the Menopause Polyclinic, including 256 women with RLS and 359 women without RLS. Data collection instruments included "Personal Information Form", "Restless Legs Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria", "Restless Legs Syndrome Rating Scale", "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index" (PSQI) and "SF-36 Health-Related Quality of Life Survey". One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for preassessment of data. Women in the study had a mean age of 53.72±5.92 years. Out of these women, 50.4% had RLS and 46.8% had no RLS. Majority of women in both study groups were married, primary school graduates and had no revenue-generating business. Comparison of groups with RLS and without RLS revealed statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of RLS awareness, diagnosis of RLS in the family and family members with RLS (p<0.05). It was determined that 96.1% of women with RLS and 88% of women without RLS experienced health issues, particularly hot flush, during the menopause. Both groups were compared in terms of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores and it was found out that the group with RLS had statistically significant lower scores in sleep quality, subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency and sleep disturbance subscales (p<0.05). Similarly, it was determined that quality of life of women without RLS was better than those with RLS (p<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in physical functioning (p=0.00), physical role functioning (p=0.00), bodily pain(p=0.00), general health perceptions (p=0.00), vitality (p=0.00), social role functioning (p=0.00) and mental health (p=0.00) subscales of the Quality of Life Survey for women with and without RLS.