The restless legs syndrome - A genetic view of the disease

Although the symptoms of RLS have been known since centuries it was only in 1995 that common diagnostic criteria have been drawn up. Population based studies conducted a high prevalence of up to 10 % in the elderly. Up to 60 % of the patients report a positive family history. However, no gene has been mapped so far. A study on the underlying genetic model in a German population suggested an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance in early age-at-onset families. Only recently a susceptibility locus has been mapped in the French canadian population on chromosome 12.