J Korean Sleep Res Soc.  2014 Jun;11(1):16-20.

Effect of Pramipexole on Cognitive Functions in Restless Legs Syndrome

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurology, Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2Department of Neurology, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 3Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jungky10@gmail.com

Abstract


OBJECTIVES
Neuropsychological evaluations have revealed cognitive dysfunction in restless legs syndrome (RLS) patients, especially frontal lobe functions. Although dopamine agonists improve RLS sensory symptoms and periodic leg movements during sleep, there was no study regarding the effects of dopamine agonist on cognition in patients with RLS.
METHODS
Sixteen drug-naive RLS patients were enrolled. They underwent sleep questionnaires, Beck Depression Inventory, and neuropsychological evaluation, consisting of Rey Complex Figure Test and recognition trial (RCFT), Korean-California Verbal Learning Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) before and after treatment with pramipexole (PMP). PMP was administered over a period of 12 weeks every night 1 h before bedtime. Paired Student's t-test and Spearman's correlation analysis were used for analyses.
RESULTS
After treatment with PMP, the International RLS Severity Scale score was significantly decreased. Sleep quality and depression also significantly improved after the treatment. RCFT immediate recall, COWAT phoneme word frequency, and digit symbol coding scores significantly improved compared to those before the treatment (17.72+/-7.84 vs. 20.13+/-7.33, p=0.05; 36.50+/-12.62 vs. 41.50+/-12.58, p=0.03; 68.19+/-21.11 vs. 73.81+/-21.11, p=0.02, respectively). There were no significant correlations between changes in clinical variables and in cognitive functions before and after the treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that treatment with PMP in RLS patients improves not only RLS sensory symptoms, but also cognitive functions.

Keyword

Restless legs syndrome; Pramipexole; Cognition; Dopamine agonist

MeSH Terms

Clinical Coding
Cognition
Depression
Dopamine Agonists
Frontal Lobe
Humans
Leg
Memory, Short-Term
Surveys and Questionnaires
Restless Legs Syndrome*
Verbal Learning
Word Association Tests
Dopamine Agonists
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