CHICAGO, Jan 1: People with restless legs syndrome or RLS are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart disease and those with the most severe symptoms are at greatest risk, US researchers said on Monday.

“The association of RLS with heart disease and stroke was strongest in those people who had RLS symptoms at least 16 times per month,” Dr John Winkelman, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a statement.

“There was also an increased risk among people who said their RLS symptoms were severe compared to those with less bothersome symptoms,” said Winkelman, whose study appeared in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Restless legs syndrome is marked by a strong, irresistible urge to move the legs that is often associated with an itching, tugging or gnawing feeling.

—Reuters