Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I googled for a while but couldn't find reliable sources. Obviously RLS has been described by the ancient greeks (along with the cure, opioids). But are there any estimates of the RLS prevalence, say, 70 years ago, shortly after it was described (again) by Ekbom, ca. 1945?

Obviously diagnostic tools have improved so it's hard to compare numbers, and age expectancy has increased since then. But still, I wonder if the prevalence has changed in any way.

I only know my family. From great grandparent to great grandchild, we have 4 generations with almost all of us with it. My dad was adopted, so no idea if his parents did (he had PLMS) and on my mom's side from my grandmother to my nieces, we all have it - I mean EVERY child on that side.

Wow, RLS on both sides of your family! That's awful. Mine is only on my father's side, most of my nine siblings have it to one degree or other and some cousins.

I am unaware of anyone in my family, going back, who has had rls.
However on my father's side, he was one of 8, and some of them had quite large families.
The question has never been formally asked, the cousins etc are all scattered.

I am sure however, that neither my parents, grandparents or brother have rls.

ViewsAskew wrote:I only know my family. From great grandparent to great grandchild, we have 4 generations with almost all of us with it. My dad was adopted, so no idea if his parents did (he had PLMS) and on my mom's side from my grandmother to my nieces, we all have it - I mean EVERY child on that side.

Wow. It's about a third of my family with RLS.
The thing is, if we had evidence that the prevalence has changed, we could derive something about possible influences (diet, toxins or so). About diseases like Diabetes we have some anecdotal numbers from single hospitals. Can't remember the particulars, but something like "we had 2 cases per year between 1880 and 1890, but now we have a case every day in 1920". But RLS? I don't recall reading anything, ever, about historical prevalence. Except that it was known in the bronze age already.