Vitamin B12 deficiency linked to development of restless leg syndrome

A recent study found that patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) have vitamin B12 deficiency and thus a possible association between these two. The results of this study are published in the journal, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.

The retrospective study aimed to determine whether vitamin B12 levels are independently related to the occurrence of RLS. The serum vitamin B12 levels of 80 patients with RLS and 80 age- and gender- matched healthy controls (HC) were analyzed.

Serum vitamin B12 levels were significantly lower in the RLS group, while creatinine and homocysteine levels were higher. Furthermore, multivariate logistic regression revealed that serum vitamin B12 was independently related to RLS. Thus, the results concluded that patients with RLS had significant vitamin B12 deficiency compared to HC. Furthermore, low serum vitamin B12 levels have been linked to the development of RLS. Such deficiency explains severity of symptoms.