Efficacy of the low-dose Saccharum iron treatment of idiopathic restless legs syndrome

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of low-dose and high-dose Saccharum iron injected intravenously in patients with idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) by detecting levels of serum ferritin (SF) and international RLS Severity Scale.

Methods: For this purpose, 38 patients with idiopathic RLS were randomly divided into the following two groups: low-dose group (18 cases) and high-dose group (20 cases). Low-dose group received Saccharum iron intravenously (200 mg/dose); once a week for 5 weeks with a total dose of 1000 mg. High-dose group received Saccharum iron intravenously (500 mg/dose); once every two weeks for 4 weeks with a total dose of 1000 mg. The pre- and post-treatment (at 2, 4, and 6 weeks) level of SF and RLS scores were determined and the differences were compared between two groups.

Results: Post-therapeutic SF levels increased significantly in both groups as compared with before treatment (P<0.05). At 6-week post-therapy, SF levels in low-dose group were significantly higher than those in high-dose group (P<0.05). The clinical symptoms were improved and RLS scores were lower than pretreatment ratings in both groups (P<0.05). After 6 weeks of treatment, RLS scores of low-dose group were lower than those of high-dose group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Both the low-dose and high-dose Saccharum iron treatments increased the SF levels and improved clinical symptoms in patients with idiopathic RLS; however, the low-dose iron treatment was found to be more effective and had fewer side effects.