Prevalence of restless legs and association with patient-reported outcome measures in myasthenia gravis.

STUDY

OBJECTIVES

Inflammatory and immune mechanisms are considered in restless legs syndrome (RLS) pathophysiology with several autoimmune diseases associated with RLS. There is a paucity of studies examining RLS prevalence in myasthenia gravis (MG), an autoimmune neuromuscular disease. This study investigated RLS prevalence and association with patient-reported measures in a large registry of participants with MG using a validated RLS diagnostic questionnaire.

METHODS

The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America MG Patient Registry is used on a semiannual basis to survey participants with MG. Patients aged ≥ 18 years, living in the United States, and answering "yes" to physician diagnosed MG were invited by email to enroll in an RLS-customized web-based survey. Collection of data included demographics, disease variables, patient-reported measures with a simple depression scale, MG-quality of life-15 revised, MG-activities of daily living instruments, and 13-item short-form Cambridge-Hopkins diagnostic questionnaire for RLS. Multivariable logistic regression models explored the association between RLS and MG variables of interest.

RESULTS

A total of 630 eligible participants with MG (age: 62.8 ± 13.2; 54.9% female; 91.6% White) completed the survey. The overall prevalence of RLS was 14.8%. The prevalence of clinically significant RLS was 8.4%. The odds of having RLS were increased with higher (worse) MG-activities of daily living, MG-quality of life-15 revised, and depression scores. History of "thymic tumor with thymectomy" and "continuous positive airway pressure therapy" were also independent predictors of RLS.

CONCLUSIONS

RLS is common in patients with MG and is associated with worse functional status, quality of life, and depression. The thymus could play a key role in an autoimmune process associating MG with RLS.

CITATION: AlGaeed M, McPherson T, Lee I, et al. Prevalence of restless legs and association with patient-reported outcome measures in myasthenia gravis. J Clin Sleep Med. 2025;21(2):269-276.