ReviewTremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.)2016
Restless Legs Syndrome: Current Concepts about Disease Pathophysiology.
Review in Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuromodulation for Restless Legs Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Mechanistic Considerations for Spinal Cord Stimulation.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2026Pooled it
- Analysis of trends and hotspots in the research on sleep disorders of maintenance hemodialysis patients based on bibliometrics.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Large genome-wide association study identifies three novel risk variants for restless legs syndrome.Communications biology · 2020Pooled it
- Noninvasive neuromodulation reduces symptoms of restless legs syndrome.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Selective impairment of affective theory of mind in restless legs syndrome: a case-control study.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2026Article
- Sleep apnea in individuals with spinal cord injury.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Article
- Hydrotherapy and acupressure in restless legs syndrome: results of a randomized, controlled, three-armed, pilot study (HYDRAC-study).Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Patients with restless legs syndrome exhibit reduced serum colony-stimulating factor-1, humanin-like 3 and 10 levels.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2024Article
- A survey-based approach on restless legs syndrome: practices and perspectives among Italian neurologists.Journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Prevalence and clinical correlates of restless legs syndrome in psychiatric patients: A cross-sectional study from North India.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Explainable Machine-Learning-Based Characterization of Abnormal Cortical Activities for Working Memory of Restless Legs Syndrome Patients.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- A case of restless legs syndrome after BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.Neurology and clinical neuroscience · 2022Article
- Chronic inflammation markers and cytokine-specific autoantibodies in Danish blood donors with restless legs syndrome.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Restless Legs Syndrome: Known Knowns and Known Unknowns.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Review
- Restless Legs Syndrome Among Sudanese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Case-Control Study.Cureus · 2020Article
- Risk factors for restless legs syndrome in hemodialysis patients in Taiwan: A case-control study.Medicine · 2019Observational
- Mineral absorption is an enriched pathway in a brain region of restless legs syndrome patients with reduced MEIS1 expression.PloS one · 2019Article
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the past few decades, much has been learned about the pathophysiology of restless legs syndrome (RLS). Investigators have studied neuropathology, imaging, electrophysiology, and genetics of RLS, identifying brain regions and biological systems affected in RLS. This manuscript will review RLS pathophysiology literature, examining the RLS state through consideration of the neuroanatomy, then the biological, organ, and genetic systems.
methodsPubmed (1966 to April 2016) was searched for the term "restless legs syndrome" cross-referenced with "pathophysiology," "pathogenesis," "pathology," or "imaging." English language papers were reviewed. Studies that focused on RLS in relation to another disease were not reviewed.
resultsAlthough there are no gross structural brain abnormalities in RLS, widespread brain areas are activated, including the pre- and post-central gyri, cingulate cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum. Pathologically, the most consistent finding is striatal iron deficiency in RLS patients. A host of other biological systems are also altered in RLS, including the dopaminergic, oxygen-sensing, opioid, glutamatergic, and serotonergic systems. Polymorphisms in genes including BTBD9 and MEIS1 are associated with RLS. DISCUSSION: RLS is a neurologic sensorimotor disorder that involves pathology, most notably iron deficiency, in motor and sensory brain areas. Brain areas not subserving movement or sensation such as the cingulate cortex and cerebellum are also involved. Other biological systems including the dopaminergic, oxygen-sensing, opioid, glutamatergic, and serotonergic systems are involved. Further research is needed to determine which of these anatomic locations or biological systems are affected primarily, and which are affected in a secondary response.
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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.