Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Does anyone know of any research done on whether or not certain ethnic groups have this disorder more frequently than others? ie: Asian, Caucasian, Black, Jewish, American Indian, etc. No prejudice here. Just curiousity.

Excellent question, perhaps something for the questionaire, Jumpy? I have not seen anything in the literature, but perhaps someone else has?

Heron

Good question.....it does seem to run in familes...so may have a genetic origin....

Does anyone know of any research done on whether or not certain ethnic groups have this disorder more frequently than others?

The ethnicity subject was mentioned at the RLS conference. According to research, RLS predominantly affects people of northern European descent. Peoples of Asia and Africa seem to have a low incidence of this disorder.

Dr. Rye surmised (not postulated) that some thousands of years ago nature decided that early man needed an incentive to get off his indolent butt and go rustle up some sustenance, specifically in the form of red meat, which is an excellent source of iron readily absorbed by the body. What better way, Rye mused, than to make idleness uncomfortable. A system in the brain monitoring for iron levels, detecting a low reading on the dipstick, sends out instructions to the legs to become agitated. Move your legs and the discomfort readily dissipates. "Hell," Mr. C. Magnon thinks to himself, "I ain't gonna get no durn sleep with these stupid legs bugging me. Might as well go out and kill something."

If this evolutionary quirk has any validity, there is need of explanation why RLS affects mainly northern Europeans.

As Ann (ViewsAskew) mentioned in General Topics, there are ongoing studies of iron's role in this syndrome. It is not so simple that RLS sufferers adopt a regimen of T-Bones for breakfast, Big Mac's for lunch and Prime Rib for dinner.

Prevalence of RLS in populations can be found in going to the download section of rls.org and download the 2004 medica bulletin. Under prevalence somewhere in the middle you can find out about where in the world RLS is present.
Corrie

Just joined discussion board. LOVE the theory about red meat and iron....but I have another one! And it ties in with European, Asian and African origins! I have had this idea for some time- what else does one think about when awake all night?

Over 2 million Americans are silent carriers of thalassemia. These people are of mediterranean and asian descent. This ties in with sickle cell disease in African people. What do the 2 have in common? Both were designed to protect people from malaria! What does it mean to us? These people have defective hemoglobin units!!!!!!!!
Am trying to figure this out, but I believe silent carriers of thalassemia can have some reduced hemoglobin function, leading to reduced oxygen capacity, etc......
What do you think?
Athena

My family would certainly qualify as the Northern European descent - Scottish on one side, and northern Russia on the other. We are all very blonde hair/blue eyed/fair skined. In my family, it runs on the fairer side of the family - the natural blondes with pale grey blue eyes. I know that my grandmother had it, my dad has it, although not bad, bothersome at times, and I have it (formally diagnosed) and I see it in my son.

I stayed with nanny a lot, and she jerked a lot. My dad kicks at night and jerks and sometimes can't sleep for his legs, especially if stressed. His has never really hurt, just drove him bonkers with no sleep.

I am going to have to take my son to the doctor. He is 9. He NEVER slept a lot as a baby. Heck, he kicked me all the time when he was inside. He was never still! As a newborn, he slept maybe 12 hours a day at most. I'm homeschooling him now. He could not stay awake in regular school. He can't go to sleep late at night. My husband has tried to force him to go to bed early, he says his legs jump and hurt. I see him jerk and kick when he sleeps. I now feel strongly it is the RLS. Homeschooling has been an excellent option for him. He has bloomed since starting last year. The school said he couldn't be still. I was afraid they would put him on ritalin. I didn't see this, it scares me - OMG I have awful times even with caffiene. I don't give him any. His attention is great, he is just a wiggle worm. He makes straight As and is very smart and likes to read and learn. He is a math whiz and is reading on a high school level. Here I let him stand up and stretch and move around while I teach him. I understand that need.

He has ice blue eyes, blonde hair, and fair skin as well. My mother was green eyed with some Native American blood, and darker skin - which is what my sisters have. They don't have it - no signs at all of it.

This sounds mean, but I've seen it mentioned here and yes, it also happens to be the smarter folks in our family that have it. I'm not saying this to for any other reason than to hopefully help trace it -My son and I both have well documented IQ ranges in the 98 and 99 percentile, and my dad is super-smart as well - really wonderful at math. We also ALL have supernumary nipples AND underbites - for what all that is worth.

I have thelassemia and am of Asian descent. My iron count is high but not high enough to require further action. And I also have RLS. Something is shortcircuiting that I am not able to access this extra store of iron. The previous other, Guest, is right that thelassemia was an evolutionary quirk to defend from malaria. It would be very interesting what this condition can inform us about RLS or vice versa.

Northern Russia is not considered Northern European. That classification refers to people from Great Britain, Scandinavia, Greenland, the Netherlands ie. Celtic/Viking stock. It's refers to countries north and west of Germany.

I'm one quarter Armenian, with some pollock and god knows what else thrown in for good measure.

All I know is it's indiscriminate and a pain in the ****, haha.

geeez i am a heinz 57 variety! i have traced my family on the paternal side all the way back to the roman times. i mean where do you draw the line on your lineage, i have family from everywhere on both sides, maternal and paternal. so for me it if it is more of northern euro then it was chunked in my gene pool a long long time ago, and i wish they had kept it to themselves!

dee

I think that I am just a Heinz 57

My great grandparents (maternal) were from Sweden--never learned English, so I've been told. My father's family was Dutch/Irish. I'm sure there were other things thrown in. LOL

I'm pretty sure my father had RLS (he died in 1979). I never saw my symptoms in my mother.

We are all very fair complected.... My dad had red hair.

Interesting, isn't it?

Jan

I've got red facial hair mixed in with my black hair, and a bit of a natural highlight in one portion of my head hair. Comes from my dad's fathers side I think. Pretty run of the mill white folks, think maybe German ancestry or something. It's kind of annoying to have bits of red in your beard, when you try to grow one anyhow... Not that I necessarily should be in this day and age.. Much ado about terrorist, haha

Hi, I'm from Sweden and I have had RLS for some 10-15 years. My mother had the syndrome and my older sister has gotten it the last years. Sometimes I have it in both my leg and arm. Mostly just on one side at a time, but the side can differ from "episode to episode".

I have tried codeine, benzo-preps, Madopark (l-dopa). I'm taking citalopram but my RLS started before that. I have not tried dopamine agonists.

When it comes to heritage my opinion is that a "disease" or whatever condition one has, does NOT have to have been beneficial for the survival in some sense. It is "enough" that it didn't affect survival negatively !!!!

That said, if there is something in the "get off your butts theory" , that is something you clearly had to do in the northern Europe not too many years ago. Just in order to survive the very cold climate .