Restless legs syndrome affects nearly 2 percent of US/U...(ure Genetics found genes associated wit...)

Restless legs syndrome runs in families. That is one of the major points of our study, and the discovery of associated genes really supports it, Picchietti said.

Awareness of RLS in adults is increasing (depictions of and jokes about RLS are appearing more frequently in popular culture). It is less recognized in children, however, and parents and clinicians sometimes dismiss childrens complaints about unusual sensations in their legs as nothing more than growing pains, Picchietti said.

Many adults diagnosed with RLS report that their symptoms began in childhood. In the early 1990s, Picchietti began to notice that some children who came to his office because they had trouble sleeping or paying attention in school had symptoms of RLS. But there was scant research on the prevalence of RLS in children.

The new study included a rigorous analysis of participants reported symptoms, and excluded those who did not meet all of the National Institutes of Health criteria for diagnosing children with RLS. A child who had periodic limb movements during sleep and no other symptoms of RLS would not be counted, for example. A child who reported leg cramps or growing pains would not be included unless he or she met all of the other diagnostic criteria for RLS.

Some parents are surprised to learn that conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression appear to be more common in those diagnosed with RLS. Sleep disturbance, by itself, is known to aggravate ADHD and depression, which may explain the association, Picchietti said. But there may also be other reasons for the association.

Picchietti described the new findings as a major step forward in understanding how many children are affected by RLS. But this is not the final answer, he said. While some children with RLS had significant sleep disturbance and daytime symptoms, others did not. Which children woul
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