Restless legs syndrome is a risk factor for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract A significant association between major depressive disorder (MDD) and restless legs syndrome (RLS), but RLS prevalence is dramatically different among MDD individuals across studies. Our present work aimed to comprehensively evaluate available evidences to determine the role of RLS in MDD. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Science Online, Wip Chinese Biomedical Journal, Wanfang and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched to identify observational and case-control studies relevant to RLS and MDD. Stata 12.0 software was used for meta-analysis. RLS individuals exhibited a higher risk of MDD than non-RLS controls (OR 2.05, 95%CI 1.80–2.33; p<0.05). No significant differences were found in MDD prevalence between young RLS patients (OR 2.10, 95%CI 1.72–2.56) and older RLS patients (OR 2.02, 95%CI 1.70–2.39). In addition, no significant difference in MDD prevalence was evident between between Asian (OR 1.98, 95%CI 1.66–2.37) and European or American (OR 1.76, 95%CI 1.54–2.01) RLS patients. Our meta-analysis provides evidence that the risk for MDD is higher among RLS patients compared to non-RLS individuals suggesting that RLS may play an important role in MDD patheogenesis.