Restless legs syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a prolonged inflammatory disorder that impacts the digestive system. To refer to one neurological complication, restless leg syndrome (RLS) manifests as movement impairment and leg restlessness. This situationprompted a need for a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the correlation of these two diseases.

A systematized search of relevant studies that were published up to September 2024 was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The search strategy included keywords related to IBD, RLS, and their synonyms using MeSH terms. Data extraction and quality assessment were performed using a predefined protocol. All statistical analyses were performed using R software with the package "meta."

The pooled prevalence of RLS in IBD patients was 0.15 (0.08, 0.27), with a high heterogeneity indicated by I² = 98.8 % (p-value < 0.001). The subgroup analysis demonstrated notable variations depending on the geographic location. The prevalence of RLS in Crohn's disease (CD) was 0.17 (0.05, 0.45) with a high heterogeneity (I²: 98.9 %, P-value < 0.0001), and the prevalence of RLS in ulcerative colitis (UC) was 0.18 (0.06, 0.43) with a high heterogeneity (I²: 98.2 %, P-value < 0.0001). Positive associations have been found between CD and subsequent RLS in both sexes, as well as between UC and RLS, specifically in women.

This analysis can provide compelling evidence to support any potential association between IBD and RLS, highlighting the importance of recognizing and addressing the potential comorbidity between these two conditions in clinical practice.