IRLS: International Restless Legs Scale. Rate the following items based on your experience over the past week.
Sleep & Symptom Assessment (0/10)
1. In the past week, how would you rate the RLS discomfort in your legs or arms?
2. In the past week, how would you rate the need to move around because of your RLS symptoms?
3. In the past week, how much relief of your RLS arm or leg discomfort did you get from moving around?
4. In the past week, how severe was your sleep disturbance due to your RLS symptoms?
5. In the past week, how severe was your tiredness or sleepiness during the day due to your RLS symptoms?
6. In the past week, how severe was your RLS as a whole?
7. In the past week, how often did you get RLS symptoms?
8. In the past week, when you had RLS symptoms, how severe were they on average?
9. In the past week, how severe is the impact of your RLS symptoms on your ability to carry out your daily affairs?
10. In the past week, how severe was your mood disturbance due to your RLS symptoms?
Guidelines & Evidence
Clinical Details
Section 1
When to Use
When to Use
Monitoring symptom severity in patients already diagnosed with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
Evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy (e.g., dopamine agonists, gabapentinoids)
Standardized assessment for RLS research and clinical trials
Symptom-tracking for patients reporting worsening sleep quality related to leg sensations
Section 2
Formula & Logic
Scoring Logic
The IRLS consists of 10 items assessing symptom frequency, intensity, and impact on sleep and daily function. Each item is rated from 0 to 4. Total scores range from 0 to 40.
Severity Interpretation
0 points
None
1–10 points
Mild
11–20 points
Moderate
21–30 points
Severe
31–40 points
Very Severe
Section 3
Evidence Appraisal
Validation
Validation of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group rating scale for restless legs syndrome.
Walters AS et al. • Sleep Med.. 2003;4(2):121-32. Primary validation showing excellent test-retest reliability (0.87) and sensitivity to change.
The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group rating scale: touchstone for clinical trials.
Abetz L et al. • Sleep Med.. 2006;Demonstrated the scale's robustness across diverse cultural and clinical populations.
