IRLSSG 30 Year Anniversary: 1995 - 2025

Arthur Walters (USA)

     Arthur S. Walters, M.D. is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine 1972.  Dr. Walters is currently a  Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, USA since 2008. Upon arriving in Nashville, he was given a “Distinguished Faculty medical license” by the state of Tennessee. Originally trained in Movement Disorders and secondarily in Sleep Disorders, Dr. Walters has combined his interests and is a pioneer in the development of the newly emerging field of sleep-related Movement Disorders. He co-edited the first book on sleep-related movement disorders in 2003 — revised edition 2013.  He was chosen by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to head up the committee for formulating new diagnostic clinical criteria for the sleep-related movement disorders (International Classification of Sleep Disorders ICSD-2 published in 2005 and ICSD-3 published in 2014). He was also chosen by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to head up the   committee for formulating new polysomnographic scoring criteria for the sleep-related movement disorders (The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events  published in 2007).   From 1993 to 2007 he founded and served as the first chair of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG), comprised of over 130 physicians and scientists from 17 countries dedicated to research on Restless Legs Syndrome  (RLS) and its allied condition Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep.  Under his leadership, universal clinical criteria for the diagnosis of RLS were established and the first validated scale for the scoring of RLS severity was created and validated.  This scale is now used as the primary outcome measure in all the major pharmaceutical company studies of RLS. He served as the first chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation from 1992-1998, a nation-wide support group for RLS patients and their families.  He continues as an active member of the board. In 2003/2004 while at Seton Hall University he was named “Researcher of the Year”, one of 4 such awards given by the university that year for excellence in (1) Medicine, (2) The Arts, (3) The Humanities and (4) The Social and Physical Sciences.  In 2010 he was the recipient of the American Academy of Neurology Senior Sleep Science Award for excellence in sleep research. In 2017 his name was added to a list of 120 “notable alumni” graduates from Wayne State University School of Medicine in the 20th and 21st centuries.  Dr. Walters has published close to 450 peer reviewed articles, co-edited books, book chapters, letters to the editor, editorials and abstracts combined.  He has been funded as principal investigator by the NIH, Veterans Affairs, university and industry sponsored grants. He is currently a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Standards and Practice Committee for therapy of RLS 2023.

     Dr. Walters research on RLS has focused on:

• Treatment studies of opioids, dopaminergic agents, anticonvulsants such gabapentin and pregabalin, benzodiazepines and lesser known agents as therapies for RLS

• The role of the endogenous opiate system with its endorphins, enkephalins and dynorphins in the pathogenesis of RLS and its allied condition Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep (PLMS). He has also studied the role of the endogenous opiate system in the pathogenesis of another condition characterized by restlessness, Neuroleptic-Induced Akathisia. 

• RLS and PLMS as a risk factor for hypertension, cardiovascular and stroke and also the reverse — hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke as a risk factor for RLS and PLMS.

• The similarities and differences between Pediatric RLS and Growing Pains

• The relationship between RLS and PLMS to inflammatory and auto-immune disease.

• The possible role of Zinc in the pathogenesis of RLS.

• The overlap between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and RLS

• The role of circadian rhythms in RLS

• The interconnection between Gastrointestinal Disease and RLS.

• Currently genetic connections between RLS and other medical and psychiatric co-morbidities.