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Background: Stroke is a major leading global health complication. Identification and management of risk factors associated with stroke can help in prior detection, prevention, and improvement in patient care. Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) and Vitamins B6, B12, and folate deficiency in stroke patients and also to assess other risk factors associated with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Methods: Detail history of all the subjects in the study including history of hypertension, anemia, fasting glucose, carotid artery thickness, smoking, alcohol, and dietary intake was recorded. Standard assays for homocysteine (Hcy), Vitamins B6, B12, and folate estimation were done. Lipid and renal profile tests were also performed. The prevalence and odds of having HHcy, Vitamins B6, B12, and folate deficiency, and other risk factors in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients were evaluated. Student's t-tests and chi-square tests were done for statistical validation of the data. Results: Prevalence of HHcy and Vitamins B6, B12, and folate deficiency was not observed in ischemic cases. HHcy and folate deficiency was found to be prevalent in hemorrhagic stroke patients. The odds that a person with HHcy and folate deficiency has hemorrhagic stroke was found to be significantly high. Conclusion: In our study, high Hcy and low folate levels emerged as risk factors for hemorrhagic stroke.

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OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to assess different counteracting strategies used by patients with idiopathic Willis-Ekbom disease (RLS/WED). Whether these strategies were influenced by gender or disease severity was also assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 173 patients of idiopathic RLS/WED were included in this study. Their demographic data was recorded. Details regarding the RLS/WED and strategies that they used to counteract the symptoms were asked. The severity of RLS/WED was measured with the help of the Hindi version of international restless legs syndrome severity rating scale. They were asked to provide the details regarding the relief obtained from all the strategies they used on three-point scale: no relief, some relief, and complete relief. RESULTS: Of the patients, 72% were females. Mean age of the subjects in this study was 39.6 ± 12.6 years, and male subjects were older than females. Four common strategies were reported by the patients to counter the sensations of RLS/WED: moving legs while in bed (85.5%), asking somebody to massage their legs or massaging legs themselves (76.9%), walking (53.2%), and tying a cloth/rope tightly on the legs (39.3%). Of all the patients who moved their legs, 6.7% did not experience any relief, 64.2% reported some relief, and 28.4% reported complete relief. Similarly, of all the patients who used "walking" to counteract symptoms, 50% reported complete relief, 44.5% reported some relief, and the rest did not experience any relief. Many of these patients reported that massage and tying a cloth/rope on legs brought greater relief than any of these strategies. Tying cloth on the leg was more common among females as compared to males (45.9% females vs. 23.5% males; χ(2) = 7.54; P = 0.006), while patients with moderately severe to severe RLS/WED reported "moving legs in bed" (79.3% in mild to moderate RLS/WED; 91.8% in severe to very severe RLS; χ(2) = 5.36; P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Patients with RLS/WED use a variety of strategies to counteract symptoms. These strategies may be influenced by gender, disease severity, and cultural practices.

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BACKGROUND: Distress is known to occur in RLS subjects consequent to symptoms. However, studies regarding prevalence of depression in RLS are scarce. This study was conducted to find out prevalence of depression in RLS patients and to explore possible underlying factors. METHOD: 112 consecutive RLS subjects presenting to sleep-clinic were included in this study. History regarding RLS, depression and sleep-disturbances was sought. Depression and insomnia were diagnosed using DSM-IV-TR criteria. Subjects were specifically asked whether they had depressive episodes in past one year. Severity of RLS and insomnia was measured using Hindi versions of IRLS and ISI, respectively. Family history of depression and RLS was also asked. RESULTS: One year prevalence of depression was 41.8%. MDD was reported by 33% and dysthymia by 8.8%. Both the groups were comparable with respects to demographic and clinical features, viz., age, gender, duration, severity and family history of RLS. Duration, number of episodes and severity of insomnia were comparable between groups, so was the family history of depression. In 37.8% of the subjects with MDD, depressive symptoms preceded RLS while in 51.4% of them, they followed onset of RLS. Total duration of RLS symptoms did not correlate with total duration of depression (r(2)=0.07; P=0.64). CONCLUSION: Clinical depression is seen in more than a third of RLS patients. Depression is not affected by clinical picture of RLS and it is not consequent to sleep disturbance. Perhaps, it is a co-morbid condition.

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Restless legs syndrome (RLS) rarely affects the upper limb during the initial course of disease. We present a patient who complained of symptoms suggesting RLS in the right upper limb as the sole manifestation of illness. Bilateral cervical ribs and depression were co-incidental findings. Patient responded well to dopaminergic therapy.

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BACKGROUND: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is known to be associated with depression. We hypothesized that RLS in depression is linked to the severity, duration, and frequency of depressive episodes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects fulfilling DSM-IV-TR criteria of depressive disorders were included in this study after seeking informed consent. Using structured interview of MINI-Plus their demographic data and history were recorded. Severity of depression was assessed with the help of HAM-D. Insomnia was diagnosed following ICSD-2 criteria. RLS was diagnosed according to IRLSSG criteria. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, independent sample t test and MANOVA were computed with the help of SPSS v 17.0. RESULTS: RLS was reported by 31.48% of sample. There was no gender difference in prevalence of RLS (X(2) =0.46; P=0.33). There was no difference in the age , total duration of depressive illness and number of depressive episodes between RLS and non-RLS groups (F=0.44; P=0.77; Wilk's Lambda=0.96). The HAM-D score was higher in the non-RLS group (P=0.03). Onset of RLS symptoms was not related to onset of depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: RLS is prevalent in depressive disorder. However, onset of RLS is unrelated to age and number or duration of depressive disorders.

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Our clinical experience suggested existence of a third group, stage-independent-OSA besides two known groups: REM-dependent-OSA and NREM-dependent-OSA. This study was planned to compare the characteristics of this group with the other two. All the subjects undergoing diagnostic video-polysomnographies with AHI >5/h were included in this study. Based upon the ratio of AHI during REM and NREM sleep, various groups were formed. REM-dependent-OSA was defined as AHI-REM/AHI-NREM >2; all other subjects were included in Not-REM-dependent-OSA (A-1 analysis). This group was further bifurcated into two groups: Non-REM-dependent OSA (NREM-dependent-OSA) where AHI-NREM/AHI-REM >2 and remaining subjects were included in the sleep-stage-independent-OSA group (A-2 analysis). SPSS v 17.0 was used to calculate independent sample t test (A-1 analysis) and Kruskall-Wallis test (A-2 analysis). Using A-1 approach, REM-dependent-OSA group was found to be suffering from mild-moderate OSA (90 %). REM-dependent OSA group had lower AHI-NREM (P < 0.001; 95 % CI 22.11-36.81) and lower AHI-total (P < 0.001; 95 % CI 15.39-30.73). Surprisingly, AHI-REM and DI-REM were not significantly different between these groups. A-2 analysis showed that overall, REM-dependent-OSA had lowest AHI-total while the stage-independent group had highest (P < 0.001). However, on analysis of REM-dependent-OSA, it was found that few of the subjects from this group had severe OSA (AHI-total > 30/h). The NREM-AHI increased linearly as we moved from REM-dependent-OSA to stage-independent-OSA with a significant difference across groups (P < 0.001). However, similar trend was not observed for AHI-REM. This study showed that a third group, sleep-stage-independent-OSA also exists when OSA is classified according to the proportion of apnea across sleep stages. This classification partially corresponds with the severity of illness.

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BACKGROUND: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) itself as well as the problems that are secondary to RLS may worsen the quality of life. AIM: The aim of this study is to translate and validate the Restless Legs Syndrome Quality of Life (RLS-QOL) questionnaire in Hindi language. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: Patients attending psychiatry OPD and sleep clinic in a tertiary care teaching hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty four consecutive patients of RLS and twenty nine control subjects were included in the study. Permission for translation and validation of RLS-QOL questionnaire scale was obtained. Translation was done according to the guidelines provided by the publisher. After translation, the final version of the scale was applied in both the groups to find the reliability and validity. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: SPSS, version 17.0 was used for the analysis. Independent sample t test was used to compare age. Chi-square test was applied to compare non-parametric variables. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations were used to find out the correlation between parametric and non-parametric items, respectively. Reliability analysis was done by using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Among the RLS subjects, mean Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) score, International Restless Legs Syndrome Severity Rating Scale (IRLS) score and Computed Score of RLS-QOL questionnaire were 25.43 (7.39), 12.7 (8.34) and 29.8 (8.39), respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed between both the groups on all these scores (ISI: t= -11.2, P<0.001, 95% CI= -22.62 to -15.76; IRLS: t = -8.1, P< 0.001, 95% CI =-15.81 to -9.58; RLS-QOL: t =-19.07, P<0.001 with 95% CI = -32.69,- 28.83). A significant correlation between ISI and RLS-QOL (r² = 0.59; P< 0.001) was seen. Most of the items also showed good correlation with each other. Internal consistency done by Cronbach's alpha showed good correlation (0.85). CONCLUSION: Hindi version of the Restless Legs Syndrome Quality of Life (RLS-QOL) questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of the quality of life in patients with RLS.

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UNLABELLED: Earlier studies conducted among migraineurs have shown an association between migraine and restless legs syndrome (RLS). We chose RLS patients and looked for migraine to exclude sample bias. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 99 consecutive subjects of idiopathic RLS were recruited from the sleep clinic during four months period. Physician diagnosis of headache and depressive disorder was made with the help of ICHD-2 and DSM-IV-TR criteria, respectively. Sleep history was gathered. Severity of RLS and insomnia was measured using IRLS (Hindi version) and insomnia severity index Hindi version, respectively. Chi-square test, one way ANOVA and t-test were applied to find out the significance. RESULTS: Primary headache was seen in 51.5% cases of RLS. Migraine was reported by 44.4% subjects and other types of 'primary headaches' were reported by 7.1% subjects. Subjects were divided into- RLS; RLS with migraine and RLS with other headache. Females outnumbered in migraine subgroup (χ(2)=16.46, P<0.001). Prevalence of depression (χ(2)=3.12, P=0.21) and family history of RLS (χ(2)=2.65, P=0.26) were not different among groups. Severity of RLS (P=0.22) or insomnia (P=0.43) were also similar. CONCLUSION: Migraine is frequently found in RLS patients in clinic based samples. Females with RLS are prone to develop migraine. Depression and severity of RLS or insomnia do not affect development of headache.

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OBJECTIVE: Restless Legs Syndrome is a common problem that is under-diagnosed. This disorder has a significant socio-economic impact as it worsens quality of life. There is either no or little data available in terms of the Indian context. METHODS: Patients who presented with insomnia or leg pain were screened for Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in the Psychiatry and Neurology departments of a tertiary care teaching institution from June 2011 to October 2011. One hundred consecutive patients diagnosed with RLS were included. Duration of symptoms, previous medical consultation history, and treatment received were scrutinized and recorded. Severity of RLS was assessed using the IRLS Hindi version. For statistical analysis, descriptive analysis and independent sample t-test were used. RESULTS: Out of 653 subjects with insomnia or leg pain, 15.31% of the subjects had RLS. Females outnumbered males by a ratio of 2:1. Ninety-four percent of subjects had a moderate to very severe form of the illness. Only 32% of subjects reported leg symptoms to their physician on each visit. The rest of the patients sought an opinion for other symptoms like insomnia, daytime-fatigue, memory impairment, irritability, etc. Eighty percent of patients visited a general Physician or a primary care Physician. On average, five consultations were made before patients came to see us. None of the patients were diagnosed with RLS by any of their general Physicians or by specialists like neurologists, psychiatrists, etc. Common misdiagnoses (available in just 8% of cases) for legs symptoms were arthritis, calcium deficiency, worms in the stomach, depression, anxiety, stress, and vitamin deficiency. All the patients were prescribed medicines. Benzodiazepines were the most frequently prescribed drugs (97%), followed by injectable vitamin B-Complex (95% cases), calcium tablets (62% cases), selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors (30%), and tri-cyclic antidepressants (25%). Proton pump inhibitors or NSAIDs were prescribed to almost all the patients along with previously mentioned drugs. CONCLUSION: Diagnosis of RLS was missed not only by general physicians, but also by specialists like neurologists and psychiatrists. Most of the time diagnosis could not be established, yet medicines were prescribed. Many of these medicines were either ineffective or deleterious to RLS.

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BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a common problem that is known to occur during depression. However, literature still debates whether insomnia is part of depression or a separate entity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects presenting with depressive disorder according to DSM-IV-Text Revision criteria were recruited after seeking informed consent. Clinical interview was performed with the help of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus. Their demographic data and depression related history were recorded. Depression severity was assessed by using Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Diagnosis of insomnia was made with the help of International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2 criteria. Type of insomnia, its duration, and its relationship with depressive illness were specifically asked. If any subject fulfilled criteria for more than one type of insomnia, both were recorded. Statistical analysis was done with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. χ(2) test, independent sample t test, and Pearson's correlation were performed. RESULTS: A total of 54 subjects were enrolled in this study. Primary insomnia was seen in 40.7% cases and secondary insomnia in 58.8% cases; 27.3% subjects did not experience insomnia along with depressive disorder. In the primary insomnia category, adjustment insomnia was most prevalent (63.6%), and in secondary insomnia group, insomnia due to depressive disorder was most frequent (59.3%). Interestingly, primary insomnia often followed an onset of depressive illness (P=0.04), while secondary insomnia preceded it (c(2) =11.1; P=0.004). The presence of either type of insomnias was not influenced by duration of depressive illness, number of depressive episodes, and duration of current depressive episode. On the other hand, duration of insomnia was positively correlated with total duration of depressive illness (P=0.003), number of episodes (P=0.04), and duration of current depressive episode (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Primary insomnia is common in subjects with depression, and it usually follows depressive illness. On the other hand, secondary insomnia often precedes the onset of depressive illness. Duration of insomnia positively correlates with duration and frequency of depressive episodes.

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Translation of the Insomnia Severity Index from English to Hindi and Validation of the Hindi version. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The translation process of the Insomnia Severity Index was initiated after obtaining due permission from the author of the original version of the same. Translation was carried out by using standard translation procedures, such as combined translation, decentering, and pretest method. The final version of the Insomnia Severity Index in Hindi was finally validated. A randomly selected sample size of 65 subjects was enrolled for the purpose of validation and testing the reliability of Hindi version of the Insomnia Severity Index. Insomnia was present in 45 subjects and they constituted the insomnia group. The rest 20 subjects did not have insomnia and were included in the control group. The Hindi version of the Insomnia Severity Index was applied to both the groups. RESULTS: The total sample constituted of 50.8% males and 49.2% females. The mean age in the control group was 30.8±8.3 years and that in the insomnia group was 40.3±4 years (t=3.04; P=0.001). The translated version of the Insomnia Severity Index showed a reliability of 0.91 (Cronbach's α=0.91). This was not just simple translation, but many of the words were changed to adapt it for the local population. CONCLUSION: The Hindi version of the Insomnia Severity Index is a valid and reliable tool that can be administered for the assessment of severity of insomnia.

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Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) and idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) are primary sleep disorders of unknown etiologies, which often run a chronic course. The common core symptoms of these syndromes are hypersomnolence and sleep drunkenness, with periodic hypersomnolence and hyperphagia being the prominent symptoms of KLS. Psychiatric manifestations are common to both and include irritability, depression, apathy, inattention and poor concentration. Both disorders are diagnosed clinically and no specific laboratory investigation is available to confirm the diagnosis. We present a case highlighting the overlapping of the symptoms of KLS and IH, producing a complex clinical picture.

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OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to translate and validate the International Restless Leg Syndrome Study Group rating scale (IRLS) in Hindi language. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty one consecutive patients diagnosed of Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) were included in the study. Control group comprised of 31 subjects not having any symptom of RLS. The scale was procured from MAPI research trust; and, permission for the translation was sought. The translation was done according to the guidelines provided by the publisher. After translation, final version of the scale was applied in both the groups to find out the reliability and clinical validity. RESULTS: RLS group had a predominance of females, and they were younger than the male counterparts (Age=36.80 ± 10.46 years vs 45.18 ± 8.34 years; t=2.28; P=0.03). There was no difference in the mean age between groups (RLS=39.77 ± 10.44 years vs Non RLS=38.29 ± 11.29 years; t=-0.53; P=0.59). IRLS scores were significantly different between both groups on all items (P<0.001). Translated version showed high reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.86). IRLS scores were significantly different between both groups on all items (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Hindi version of IRLS is reliable and a clinically valid tool that can be applied in Hindi speaking population.