Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation Blog

Where to Find Research Listings and How to Sign Up

Clinical trials are research studies that enlist volunteers to investigate specific health questions. When carefully conducted, they are the fastest and safest way to find treatments that actually work for people. While the RLS Foundation does not conduct clinical trials, we do list RLS clinical trial opportunities on our website and in our quarterly member magazine, NightWalkers. The newest trial we have listed is with Dr. Brian Koo of Yale University , a member of the Foundation's Scientific and Medical Advisory Board.

Researchers at Yale are conducting a study that delves into the emotional stress and depression associated with RLS. Dr. Koo's team is looking to study primary RLS, which occurs in the absence of diseases like Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, severe neuropathy, end-stage renal disease, schizophrenia, terminal cancer and others.

The questionnaire study is entirely online, and participants will remain completely anonymous. The questionnaires will take roughly 20 minutes to complete.

A control group is also necessary for this study, so each participant will be asked to identify someone in their life without RLS that also does not have the aforementioned conditions. These individuals will fill out a questionnaire that will take less than 10 minutes.

The RLS Foundation only posts trials that are Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved. If you are interested in participating in any of the studies listed on our website, contact the researcher for that individual study. When you volunteer for an RLS clinical trial, you explore emerging treatment options for yourself while actively contributing to the advancement of RLS research. If you are a researcher who would like to include your study in our listings, please contact us at info@rls.org. All studies must be approved by the IRB to qualify. There is no charge to publish a listing.

Looking for more RLS clinical trials to participate in? Visit clinicaltrials.gov to search for the most up-to-date information on RLS studies in the United States. You can also use this website to search for studies in other areas of interest.

Use of IV Iron with Ferric Carboxy Maltose (Injectafer) for Treating RLS

1. To determine if persons with RLS/WED have abnormally high levels of a specific hormone involved in stress (among other things) and 
2. To determine if persons with RLS/WED are more likely to have common mutations in a gene that codes for a receptor for this hormone.

• be 18 -80 years of age
• have primary RLS/WED (i.e. not have Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, pregnancy, end stage renal disease)
• have RLS/WED that is at least moderate in severity