Restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movements in sleep

Restless legs syndrome is one of the most common neurological disorders, wi th a prevalence of 2% to 9% in the elderly population. Sensory and motor sy mptoms of the legs and an urge to move that occur at: rest may lead to seve re sleep disturbances and are part of the syndrome. Typical history and nor mal neurological examination lead to the clinical diagnosis. Additional lab oratory and neurophysiological investigations are necessary to rule out ass ociated diseases. The indication for polysomnography to record periodic lim b movements in sleep must be discussed in individual cases. Treatment strat egies will be recommended individually according to the disease severity. I n this article we present an overview of the clinical symptomatology and in clude recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of RLS and differentiation of RLS from periodic limb movement disorder. To this purpose,the Motor Sys tem and Sleep Work Group of the German Society of Sleep Medicine presents m odified guidelines far diagnosis and treatment of RLS according to recent r ecommendations of the American Sleep Disorder Association.