Associations between Medication Use and Restless Legs Syndrome in
Pregnancy among Nulliparous Individuals: A Secondary Analysis of the
nuMoM2b Study.
Abstract
Objective: To determine whether certain medication use during
pregnancy is associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS).
Design, Setting, Participants: A secondary analysis of a cohort
study of first-time pregnant individuals enrolled at 8 U.S. sites
between 10/1/2010 and 9/30/2013. Main Outcome Measures: RLS
symptoms were ascertained in early (6 0-13
6) and mid (22 0-29
6) pregnancy based on the International RLS Study
Group diagnostic criteria. Methods: Throughout their pregnancy,
participants reported all medications taken. In early and mid-pregnancy,
we created a set of dichotomous variables to indicate whether
participants took any ‘at-risk’ medication from the 5 pre-specified
categories, including first-generation antihistamines, serotonergic
antidepressants, dopamine antagonists, tricyclic antidepressants, and
mirtazapine. We estimated the relative risks of RLS symptoms by each
category of medication use using Poisson regression, adjusting for age,
race and ethnicity, and tobacco use. Results: Of 8,390
participants (27.2±5.6 years), 11.9% and 8.6% took ‘at-risk’
medications in early and mid-pregnancy, respectively. The most frequent
medications were first-generation antihistamines and serotonergic
antidepressants. The prevalence of RLS symptoms was 17.8% in early
pregnancy and 30.0% in mid-pregnancy. Participants taking
first-generation antihistamines (aRR [95% CI], 1.28
[1.08-1.53]) or serotonergic antidepressants (aRR [95% CI],
1.81 [1.53-2.14]) were more likely to experience concurrent RLS
symptoms in early pregnancy. These associations were weaker in
mid-pregnancy. Conclusions: The use of first-generation
antihistamines and serotonergic antidepressants is prevalent in
pregnancy and is associated with a higher prevalence of RLS symptoms.
Awareness of this association may help both pregnant people and their
clinicians make individualized decisions regarding medication use.