レストレスレッグス症候群とParkinson病

抄録

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by unpleasant leg sensations and irresistible urges to move the lower extremities, mainly at night. The diagnosis of RLS was made using five major items of RLS developed by the International RLS Study Group (IRLSSG). Supported items for RLS were the existence of periodic limb movement, the positive of family history, the effectiveness of dopaminergic agents, and the absence of excessive daytime sleepiness. About twenty percentage of RLS was categorized as secondary RLS such as iron-deficiency anemia and Parkinson's disease. The prevalence of RLS has racial different between western countries and Japan. However, this is no difference on the prevalence of RLS in patients with PD between western countries and Japan. The odds ratio of RLS in PD was reported 2.61 (95%CI 1.96～3.47). The pathophysiology of RLS is supported as dopamine dysfunction in A11 dopamine system. The spinal pathology of PD started after the stage 3 of Braak theory. Many patients with PD had RLS symptoms after the onset of motor symptoms. These findings supported that pathophysiology of RLS origin form spinal dopamine system. However, this issue had not reached a conclusion yet.