The study matched the US medical records of 3,485 RLS patients to those of 3,485 patients without RLS.
The most frequent CV diagnoses observed were hypertension (48%), cardiac dysrhythmias (9.3%), chronic ischemic heart diseases (8.5%), occlusion and stenosis of cerebral arteries (2.81%), cardiomegaly (2.50%), and hypertensive heart disease (2.43%).
UCB Global Epidemiology head, the University of Liege Epidemiology adjunct professor and the author of the study Florent Richy said the findings confirm the need for early diagnosis of RLS so that patients can be monitored for subsequent development of serious cardiovascular events.