Research Article
The Prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome in Patients with
Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Hooman Ghasemi ,
1
Behnam Khaledi-Paveh,
2
Alireza Abdi,
1
Rostam Jalali,
1
Nader Salari,
1
Aliakbar Vaisi-Raygani,
1
and Masoud Mohammadi
1
1
Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
2
Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
Correspondence should be addressed to Masoud Mohammadi; masoud.mohammadi1989@yahoo.com
Received 12 May 2020; Revised 6 July 2020; Accepted 21 August 2020; Published 29 August 2020
Academic Editor: Filippo Brighina
Copyright © 2020 Hooman Ghasemi et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Background.Migraineisasevereanddebilitatingneurologicdisorderandisclaimedtobethesixthdisablingillnessintheworld.
is study aimed to determine the overall prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in patients with migraine through a
systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods. To identify and select related studies, the Scopus, ScienceDirect, Embase, SID,
IranDoc, Web of Science, Knowledge Network System Medline (PubMed), and Google Scholar databases were searched. All
relatedcross-sectionalstudies,publishedinEnglishorPersianlanguagebetweenJanuary2000andDecember2019andusingthe
keywordssuchasmigraine,restlesslegsyndrome,sleepdisorder,RLS,andmigrainedisorder,werecollected.eheterogeneityof
thestudieswasassessedusingthe I
2
index,andthedataanalysiswasperformedusingtheComprehensiveMeta-Analysissoftware.
Results. Analysis was conducted on the reported results of the final 12 articles with the total sample size of 15196. e overall
prevalenceofRLSinpatientswithmigrainewas16.3%(95%CI:12.6–20.8%).eprevalenceofRLSmigrainepatientsdecreased
with increasing the sample size, and the prevalence of RLS migraine patients increased with increasing the research year, which
wasstatisticallysignificant(P < 0.05). Conclusion.isstudyhighlightsthatRLSishighinpatientswithmigraine,andtherefore,
the clinicians should be aware of its incidence and take preventive measures.
1.Background
Migraine is a severe and debilitating neurologic disorder
whichisrealisedwithlocalthrobbingsensationinthehead.
It is a type of disturbance in the subcortical aminergic
sensory modulatory systems [1–3]. In other words, the
disorder is a type of brain disturbance of the subcortical
aminergic sensory modulatory systems [4]. Although mi-
graine is widespread, the causes of the disorder are not well
understood,andinfact,thetriggersofmigrainevaryfroma
person to another. Nevertheless, many factors such as food,
barometricpressurechanges,andstresscancausemigraines
[5]. Migraine affects the quality of life and results in
healthcare costs for the patients [6].
e prevalence of migraine has been reported to be
ranging from 10 to 18% in some studies. e estimated
prevalence of migraine is 14.9% in European countries. In
addition, migraine is reported more commonly in women
than men [7–9].
Restlesslegssyndrome(RLS)isamovementdisorderin
which there is a feeling of distress and a tendency to move
the legs, and in some cases the arms and the neck [10].
Although the cause of RLS in unknown, it is thought that
irondeficiencyinbraincausesprimaryRLS,whereaskidney
failure, pregnancy, anemia, and genetics are known to be
associated with secondary RLS [11]. It occurs most often at
nights, and creates sleep disturbances [12].
Migraine and RLS put a heavy burden on society [13].
esetwodisordershaveahighimpactonthequalityoflife.
Moreover, the prevalence of RLS is higher in patients with
migraine than in a healthy population [14]. Some existing
studies have reported an unalike prevalence of RLS in
Hindawi
Pain Research and Management
Volume 2020, Article ID 2763808, 6 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/2763808