• Restless leg syndrome in the elderly undergoing hemodialysis and its influencing factors, a review study
  • Afshin Mohebi zarrin dareh,1,* Masoome Poorhasan,2 Zeinab sadat Moosavi fard,3
    1. Bachelor of Nursing student, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas branch, Iran.
    2. Bachelor of Nursing student, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas branch, Iran.
    3. Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas Branch, Iran.


  • Introduction: In recent years, the number of elderly people with chronic kidney failure requiring dialysis has increased in most countries. Research has shown that people undergoing hemodialysis may suffer from restless leg syndrome, and since these patients suffer from this syndrome more than others, the study aims to determine the condition of restless leg syndrome in the elderly undergoing hemodialysis and the factors affecting it by reviewing the studies. The past has been done.
  • Methods: This review study was conducted by searching the keywords of restless legs syndrome, hemodialysis and the elderly in the academic Jihad databases, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar in the time frame of 2010-2020. 86 articles were received, after reviewing 58 articles, considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  • Results: The findings of the reviewed research indicated that 20-80% of hemodialysis patients suffered from restless leg syndrome (RLS); The highest figure was reported for China with 62 percent. Also, the findings showed that one third of the elderly under hemodialysis also suffer from RLS. The most important factors affecting this syndrome are genetic, racial factors (for example, Africa is less than Europe), biochemical factors, environmental factors, blood group type and more) and RH (more positive), the duration of dialysis treatment and the duration of dialysis in Every reference mentioned. Some of the reviewed studies stated that serum iron and ferritin levels (in hemodialysis patients with restless legs syndrome are lower than those without restless legs syndrome) and the gender of women are also effective factors; While most of the research had stated that there is no significant relationship between these two variables with the prevalence of RLS. The findings of some studies indicated that the prevalence of RLS decreases with age, and the elderly are less likely than other age groups who are undergoing hemodialysis; They suffer from this syndrome. A brief review of the articles showed that the elderly with high blood pressure and anemia were more likely to suffer from this syndrome than other elderly. The findings of the reviewed articles indicated that it is more difficult to diagnose RLS in the elderly who have been undergoing hemodialysis for a long time, and their symptoms may be confused with problems such as peripheral panneuropathy, varicose veins, and arthritis.
  • Conclusion: The results of the reviewed studies showed that many elderly, especially the elderly under hemodialysis, suffer from this syndrome. This syndrome is very effective in their way of life, performance, independence, cognition and survival rate. In order to improve this syndrome faster in them, many solutions have been registered, the most important of which are aerobic exercise, walking and stretching as much as you can after dialysis, exercise as much as you can during dialysis (such as cycling), massage He pointed out the treatment, proper diet. Most of the articles showed the remarkable effect of exercise on the improvement of restless leg syndrome. It should be noted that the results of some articles indicated that sports training has no effect on this syndrome, and the reasons for this inconsistency can be pointed to the nature of the exercises, history of dialysis and age.
  • Keywords: Restless leg syndrome , elderly ,hemodialysis