ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2023
Restless leg syndrome and risk of all-cause dementia: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.
Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Restless legs syndrome as a comorbidity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Sleep disorders and the risk of cognitive decline or dementia: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.Journal of neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Sleep and cognitive outcomes in multiple sclerosis; a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Restless Legs Syndrome and Neurological Comorbidities: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Systematic Review on the Association Between Sleep and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: An Evolutionary Perspective.Evolutionary applications · 2026Review
- Sleep Abnormalities and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2025Review
- Sleep Disturbance in Parkinson's Disease: Consequences for the Brain and Disease Progression - A Narrative Review.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Review
- Unveiling the pathophysiology of restless legs syndrome through transcriptome analysis.iScience · 2024Article
- Sex and Sleep Disruption as Contributing Factors in Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Review
- Sleep related movement disorders in the elderly: a review of recent literature.Frontiers in sleep · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRestless leg syndrome (RLS) is associated with poor sleep quality, depression or anxiety, poor dietary patterns, microvasculopathy, and hypoxia, all of which are known risk factors for dementia. However, the relationship between RLS and incident dementia remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study aimed to explore the possibility that RLS could be deemed as a non-cognitive prodromal feature of dementia.
methodsThis was a retrospective cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Elderly Cohort (aged ≥ 60). The subjects were observed for 12 years, from 2002 to 2013. Identifying patients with RLS and dementia was based on the 10th revised code of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). We compared the risk of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) in 2501 subjects with newly diagnosed RLS and 9977 matched controls based on age, sex, and index date. The association between RLS and the risk of dementia was assessed using Cox regression hazard regression models. The effect of dopamine agonists on the risk of dementia among RLS patients was also explored.
resultsThe baseline mean age was 73.4, and the subjects were predominantly females (63.4%). The incidence of all-cause dementia was higher in the RLS group than that in the control group (10.4% vs 6.2%). A baseline diagnosis of RLS was associated with an increased risk of incident all-cause dementia (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24-1.72). The risk of developing VaD (aHR 1.81, 95% CI 1.30-2.53) was higher than that of AD (aHR 1.38, 95% CI 1.11-1.72). The use of dopamine agonists was not associated with the risk of subsequent dementia among patients with RLS (aHR 1.00, 95% CI 0.76-1.32).
conclusionsThis retrospective cohort study suggests that RLS is associated with an increased risk of incident all-cause dementia in older adults, providing some evidence that requires confirmation through prospective studies in the future. Awareness of cognitive decline in patients with RLS may have clinical implications for the early detection of dementia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.