ArticlePloS one2021
Investigating the inflammation marker neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in Danish blood donors with restless legs syndrome.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serum Biomarkers in Restless Legs Syndrome: Beyond the Classical Iron Paradigm-A Scoping Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Chronic inflammation markers and cytokine-specific autoantibodies in Danish blood donors with restless legs syndrome.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRestless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a neurological sensorimotor disorder that occurs in the evening and night, thereby impacting quality of sleep in sufferers. The pathophysiology of RLS is poorly understood but inflammation has been proposed as possibly being involved. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) can be used as an inflammation marker but results from small studies have been inconclusive in determining whether NLR is associated with RLS. We aimed to assess whether an association between NLR and RLS exists in a large cohort of healthy individuals.
methodsNeutrophils and lymphocytes were measured in blood samples of 13,055 individuals from the Danish Blood Donor Study, all of whom completed the validated Cambridge-Hopkins RLS-questionnaire for RLS assessment.
resultsIn the sample, 661 individuals were determined as current RLS cases (5.1%). A higher proportion of individuals with RLS were females (62.5% vs 47.5%; P<0.001) and RLS cases were older than controls (P<0.001), but no differences in body mass index (BMI), smoking or alcohol consumption were found between the two groups. An increased NLR was observed in RLS cases compared to controls (median NLR: 1.80 vs 1.72; P = 0.033). In an unadjusted logistic regression model, increased NLR was associated with RLS (OR = 1.10 per NLR unit increase [95%CI:1.01-1.20]; P = 0.032); however, the association was not significant in multivariate models adjusting for sex and age (P = 0.094) or sex, age, alcohol consumption, smoking status and BMI (P = 0.107).
conclusionWe found no association between RLS and NLR among Danish blood donors after adjusting for sex, age, alcohol consumption, smoking status and BMI. Further studies are needed to determine whether inflammation is a risk factor for RLS.
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