People with restless legs syndrome (RLS) are not at an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a Norwegian study found.
"People who are diagnosed with RLS and are concerned about their risk of Parkinson's should be reassured," Dr. Roy Alcalay, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, and an advisor for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation told HealthDay. "Most people with RLS won't convert to Parkinson's disease, but there are nonspecific leg symptoms that can come on early even before a Parkinson's disease diagnosis is made by a neurologist."
Researchers at Stavanger University Hospital in Norway and compared 200 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease but had not taken medication to 173 people without Parkinson's. They found that people with early Parkinson's are three times more likely to experience leg motor restlessness, but classic RLS was not more likely to occur in Parkinson's disease patients.
RLS patients have the overwhelming urge to move their legs, usually at night, but the condition is relieved my movement. Leg motor restlessness is not eased by movement. Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive movement disorder that responsds to dopamine, as does RLS, but the similarities end there.
"The risk of pure RLS isn't significant in people with Parkinson's disease compared to those without it," Alcalay said.
The study appeared online Nov. 9 in the journal Neurology.
