Abstracts

Rationale: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensory-motor disorder characterized by discomfort of and urge to move the legs, primarily during rest or inactivity, partial or total relief with movement, with presence or worsening exclusively in the evening. RLS is associated with thyroid diseases, iron deficieny, renal diseases, Parkinson disease, and opioid use. There were several reports of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) induced RLS. We performed this study to detect the relationship between AEDs and RLS.Methods: Questionnaire for RLS were used in 114 consecutive epiletpic patients taking antiepileptic drugs(AEDs) more than one year and 100 consecutive tension type headache with no medications. Medical records including associated illnesses and concomitant medications, and symptom onset vs. start of AEDs were analyzed. Results: Twenty-three (20.2%) out of 114 epileptic patients and 6 patient with tension type headache had RLS symptoms.(P<0.05) RLS was developed after taking AEDs in 12 patients (10.5%, 2 patients with co-medication of antidepressant), before AEDs in 8 patients (7.0%), and uncertain in 3 patients (2.6%, 1 patient with chronic renal failure). There were no significant relationship between each AEDs and presence of RLS. Monotherapy vs. polytherapy or duration of AEDs were not related with the presence of RLS.Conclusions: AEDs may cause RLS in epileptic patients but the mechanism of AEDs and occurrence of RLS was not closely related. To clarify these uncertain relationships, well-designed, large scale study is needed.