P56: The Association of Emotional Disturbance and Quality of Life with Severity of Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a common cause of painful legs. The leg pain of restless leg syndrome typically eases with motion of the legs and becomes more noticeable at rest. Stress or emotional upset can make symptoms worse. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of emotional disturbance and quality of life to the severity of RLS. Using a descriptive-correlational research design, a purposive sample of 50 elderly men and women with RLS were compared with 50 healthy controls matched for age and gender. Participants provided information on the symptoms of the RLS as well as on their perceived levels of stress, anxiety, depression and quality of life. The RLS rating scale, depression, anxiety and stress scale and the WHO quality of life scale were used to collect data. The obtained data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients, multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis. Findings revealed significant group differences. The elderly reporting RLS symptomatology reported greater anxiety and lower quality of life than their healthy counterparts. Furthermore, although anxiety, stress, depression and quality of life correlated significantly with severity of RLS symptoms, only anxiety and quality of life emerged as significant predictors. Regression analysis revealed that anxiety accounted for 16.7%, while quality of life explained an additional 7.8% of the variance in symptom severity. Findings imply that interventions that address the anxiety experienced by the elderly with RLS can aid in providing relief from the symptoms.