Restless legs syndrome laboratory findings

As restless leg syndrome may be secondary to iron deficiency or kidney diseases or thyroid diseases, all patients should be screened for iron deficiency, kidney diseases and thyroid diseases.

As restless leg syndrome may be secondary to iron deficiency or kidney diseases or thyroid diseases, all patients should be screened for iron deficiency, kidney diseases and thyroid diseases.

• Iron studies usually done for detecting iron deficiency anemia in patients with restless leg syndrome usually are:^[1]
  • Serum iron– Decreased in iron deficiency
  • Transferrin– Elevated in iron deficiency
  • Total iron binding capacity (TIBC)- Elevated in iron deficiency
  • Transferrin saturation– derived by dividing the serum iron by the TIBC. Decreased in iron deficiency
  • Ferritin– Indicator of body iron stores and is low in iron deficiency. However, ferritin also acts as an acute phase reactant and can be unreliable in inflammatory illness
• kidney function tests which usually done for detecting kidney diseases in patients with restless leg syndrome usually are:^[2]
  • Blood urea nitrogen (BUN)
  • Creatinine

• thyroid function tests which usually done for detecting kidney diseases in patients with restless leg syndrome usually are:^[3]
  • Serum TSH
  • Serum T4

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