Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: A Risk Factor for Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Different Populations

Changes in gait, especially decreased gait velocity, may be a harbinger of cognitive decline in aging. Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), a pre-dementia syndrome combining slow gait and cognitive complaints, is a powerful clinical tool used to identify older adults at a high risk of developing dementia. The mean prevalence of MCR worldwide, including in a Korean cohort, was around 10%. The reported risk factors for incident MCR include older age, low education, cardiovascular disease, obesity, physical inactivity, and depression. In addition to dementia, MCR is also a risk factor for other age-related adverse conditions such as falls, disability, frailty, and mortality. The use of MCR has advantages over other pre-dementia syndromes in being much simpler to implement and requires fewer resources. Identification of mechanisms responsible for MCR may help in developing interventions to reduce the growing burden of dementia and disability worldwide.