Italian researchers followed 207 women after pregnancy. Of those women 74 experienced RLS during their pregnancies. During the 6.5 year long study, the women who had reported cases of RLS were more likely to develop the condition again.
Of the women who had RLS, 24 percent later faced the condition again. This is compared to only 8 percent of the women who did not have the condition during pregnancy. This means the women who had RLS during pregnancy were four times more likely to have the condition reappear.
Women who have Restless Leg Syndrome during pregnancy are also three times more likely to develop a chronic version of the condition. Women who had the condition once were also more likely to develop it again during future pregnancies. Only 3 percent of the women who did not have RLS during a pregnancy developed it during a later pregnancy, as compared to 60 percent of the women who had RLS during a previous pregnancy.
“Most of the time, when a woman experiences RLS in pregnancy, it disappears after the baby is born,” said Dr. Mauro Marconi, the study’s author and a researcher at Vita-Salute University in Milan, Italy. However, our results show that having the condition during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for a future chronic form or the short-term form in other pregnancies down the road.”
Though Restless Leg Syndrome is not as serious as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, it can still have a negative impact on a pregnant woman. The constant aches and leg twitches can affect how much sleep a woman is able to get, leaving her feeling tired and run down. During pregnancy, getting enough sleep can be very important for a woman. – Summer, staff writer
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