Magnesium Citrate Monotherapy Improves Restless Legs Syndrome Symptoms and Multiple Suggested Immobilization Test Scores in an Open-label Pilot Study

Overview

Journal J Clin Sleep Med

Specialties Neurology
Psychiatry

Date 2024 May 13

PMID 38738598

Authors

Sasikanth Gorantla

Ashwath Ravisankar

Lynn Marie Trotti

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Study Objectives: An estimated 3% of the population has clinically significant restless legs syndrome. Given the limited pharmacological options in the arsenal, there is a need for a therapeutic agent with a better side effect profile.

Methods: Twelve treatment naive adults (10 women and 2 men with a median age of 41.5 [32-48.5] years) with primary restless legs syndrome were recruited in our open-label pilot study; magnesium citrate 200 mg was administered daily for 8 weeks. Serum magnesium levels, International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Rating Scale, Kohnen quality of life scale, and multiple suggested immobilization tests (three 1-hour tests) were performed before and after supplementation. Paired tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for data analysis. Pearson and Spearman's analyses assessed the association between magnesium levels and restless legs syndrome variables.

Results: Participants had a significant reduction in International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Rating Scale scores (6.67 [2.33-11] = .006) and improved Kohnen quality of life scores (8.5 [2.09-14], = .014) without notable differences in serum magnesium levels ( = .3). The median periodic limb movements during wakefulness index (30.40 [5.20, 122.40] to 8.63 [0.32, 17.47] = .043) and self-reported discomfort score (19 [14, 30.5] to 6 [0, 8] = .0010) of all 3 multiple suggested immobilization test trials also demonstrated improvement. Serum magnesium levels negatively correlated with multiple suggested immobilization test self-reported scores and the periodic limb movements during wakefulness indices.

Conclusions: Despite the limitations of open-label design, our study's positive results indicate the need for a placebo-controlled trial with a larger sample size.

Clinical Trial Registration: Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Name: The Effect of Magnesium Citrate Supplementation in Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS); URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04462796; Identifier: NCT04462796.

Citation: Gorantla S, Ravisankar A, Trotti LM. Magnesium citrate monotherapy improves restless legs syndrome symptoms and multiple suggested immobilization test scores in an open-label pilot study. . 2024;20(8):1357-1361.

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