Neuroepidemiologic and Neurobehavioral Characteristics of Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome in an Old-Old Population: The Kurihara Project

BACKGROUND Recently, the concept of motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome was proposed, where slow gait is considered a risk factor for conversion to dementia. AIM To retrospectively investigate the characteristics of MCR among a population aged 75+ years, focusing on the aspects of epidemiology and neurobehavioral characteristics. METHOD The participants were 590 residents aged 75+ years living in Kurihara who underwent MRI and neurobehavioral assessments including walking velocity. The prevalence of MCR and conversion to dementia (AD8 Dementia Screening Interview cutoff 2/8), together with the neurobehavioral characteristics of the MCR group, were analyzed. RESULTS The prevalence was 11.1%, and the conversion ratio in the MCR group was higher than that in the non-MCR group (OR = 1.38). The MCR group had lower scores on the executive function test as well as gait velocity. CONCLUSIONS The MCR syndrome increases the rate of conversion to dementia, and both slow gait and lower scores in executive tests, which are 'frontal-based' functions, are predictive of higher rates of conversion to dementia.