Do undiagnosed individuals with first-degree relatives with restless legs syndrome have increased periodic limb movements?
PLMS are elevated even in those with mild RLS and reveal an age-related worsening of the motor component of RLS. PLMS may represent an incomplete expression of RLS tendencies in families of patients with early-onset RLS, but this needs to be confirmed in future longitudinal studies. The increase in PLMS with age, reported in healthy controls, may in fact occur in part as a partial expression of familial or genetic factors associated with RLS.
Stimulation of decidual prostaglandin F2 alpha production by tumor necrosis factor-alpha may be important in the etiology of spontaneous labor at term or preterm labor associated with infection.