Motor function and incident dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gerontology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Cognitive and mobility decline are interconnected processes.
• Mobility issues often precede or coincide with cognitive impairment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if motor function test performance predicts incident dementia.
• Investigate the association between baseline motor function and dementia risk in older adults.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on motor function and dementia risk.
• Included electronic databases, grey literature, and hand searching.
• Analyzed data from 37 studies, with three meta-analyses.

Main Results:

• Lower limb motor function, parkinsonism, and upper limb function were associated with higher dementia risk.
• Poorer performance in gait velocity, balance, and composite scores increased dementia risk (HR = 1.94).
• Tremor and hand grip strength were not significantly associated with dementia risk.

Conclusions:

• Lower limb motor function is a significant predictor of dementia risk.
• Quantitative motor assessments, like gait velocity, could enhance clinical dementia risk evaluation.