ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2013
Impact of nocturnal calf cramping on quality of sleep and health-related quality of life.
Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Non-drug therapies for the secondary prevention of lower limb muscle cramps.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Criteria in diagnosing nocturnal leg cramps: a systematic review.BMC family practice · 2017Pooled it
- Muscle Cramps Do Not Improve With Correction of Vitamin D Insufficiency.WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin · 2017Trial
- Effect of Magnesium Oxide Supplementation on Nocturnal Leg Cramps: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2017Trial
- A promising approach to effectively reduce cramp susceptibility in human muscles: a randomized, controlled clinical trial.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Cramp Threshold Frequency and Pain in Adults with Nocturnal Leg Cramps: An EMG-Based Assessment: Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Efficacy and Tolerability of Pridinol Mesylate Versus Quinine Sulfate in the Treatment of Nocturnal Leg Cramps: A Propensity Score-Matched Real-World Analysis of Depersonalized 4-Week Data from the German Pain e-Registry (PRISCILA Study).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Primary care approach to calf cramps.Singapore medical journal · 2022Article
- Association Between Alcohol Consumption and Nocturnal Leg Cramps in Patients Over 60 Years Old: A Case-Control Study.Annals of family medicine · 2018Article
- Article
- Prevalence of cramps in patients over the age of 60 in primary care : a cross sectional study.BMC family practice · 2016Observational
- Serum Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein: is There a Repeated Bout Effect?Orthopedic reviews · 2014Article
- Patient-Reported Prevalence, Characteristics, and Impact of Leg Cramps in an Urban Primary Care Clinic.Annals of family medicineArticle
- The impact of pain and nocturnal cramps on sleep quality in Charcot Marie Tooth disease: a case-control study.Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the impact of nocturnal calf cramping (a condition that affects one in two people over 60 years of age) on quality of sleep and health-related quality of life.
methodsEighty adults who experienced nocturnal calf cramp at least once per week and eighty age- and sex-matched controls who never experienced nocturnal cramp were recruited from the Greater Newcastle and Central Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia. All participants completed the SF-36v2 and the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Survey (MOS-SS).
resultsPeople who experienced nocturnal muscle cramps reported more sleep disturbance (p < 0.001), less adequate sleep (p = 0.001), less quantity of sleep (p = 0.02) and more snoring (p = 0.03). Both sleep problem summary indices for the MOS-SS identified people who experienced nocturnal muscle cramp as having more sleep problems than the controls. People who experienced nocturnal muscle cramps had lower health-related quality of life for the SF-36 domains role physical (p = 0.007), bodily pain (p = 0.003) and general health (p = 0.02). SF-36 domains that primarily relate to mental health were not significantly different between groups. The impact of nocturnal calf cramps on health-related quality of life was largely explained by their negative impact on quality of sleep.
conclusionsNocturnal calf muscle cramps are associated with substantially reduced quality of sleep and reduced physical aspects of health-related quality of life.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.