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.