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Strong link between common sleep disorder and hypertesion: Study

disorder leads to hypertension 246

An international research team, led by Emory University clinician scientists, has found that people suffering from moderate to severe cases of restless legs syndrome (RLS) are at significantly increased risk for developing hypertension.

RLS is a common and debilitating sleep disorder that produces an intense, often irresistible urge to move the legs because of creeping, crawling, tingling or burning sensations. It causes discomfort while a person is asleep, thereby disrupting sleep. People of all ages are vulnerable to it.

RLS adversely affects the lives of millions of people globally and approximately 10 percent of the U.S. population suffers from it. Symptoms can occur when people are awake or asleep.

David Rye, professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, and director of the Emory Program in Sleep and lead author of the study, declares that their study confirms the association between RLS and increased risk for high blood pressure. In scientific terms, it means there is close association between periodic leg movements of sleep (PLMs) seen in most RLS patients with increased release of adrenaline.

The study is stated to indicate that in addition to treating RLS symptoms, effective treatments are also needed to target PLMs, particularly in patients vulnerable to cardiovascular disease, either those with strong family histories of premature cardiovascular disease or those addicted to smoking.

The research team focused on 900 Icelanders for the study, who provided the number of PLMs they experienced per hour of sleep over a period of two to five nights. The team examined the body mass index (BMI), and PLMs as predictors of hypertension. And they found that the probability of hypertension increased with PLMs severity, by 50 percent in those who experienced more than 30 PLMs per hour of sleep. Though, PLMs were associated alone with hypertension factor, which in turn is related to older age and higher BMI.

Iceland’s genomics company, deCODE Genetics, Inc and physicians at Landspitali in Reykjavik assisted the Emory scientists led by Dr. Rye in the 4-year research. Donald L. Bliwise, PhD, professor of neurology at Emory University, and Lisa Biilars, MD, a senior resident in Neurology, also contributed to the study

The findings will be presented on June 12th at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis, Minn.

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Via: Sawf.org

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