Prevalence of motoric cognitive risk syndrome among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a newly proposed pre-dementia syndrome. Several studies on the prevalence of MCR have been published; however, the data vary across studies with different epidemiological characteristics. Thus, this study aimed to quantitatively analyse the overall prevalence and associated epidemiological characteristics of MCR among older adults aged ≥ 60 years.

The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, PsycInfo, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Weipu Database, China Biology Medicine disc and Wanfang Database were searched from their inception to January 2022. A modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale evaluated the risk of bias. Statistical heterogeneity among the included studies was analysed using Cochran's Q and I² tests. A random effect model calculated pooled prevalence owing to study heterogeneity. Begg's and Egger's tests were used to assess the publication bias. Additionally, subgroup analysis and meta-regression were performed based on different epidemiological characteristics to determine heterogeneity sources.

Sixty-two studies comprising 187,558 samples were obtained. The pooled MCR prevalence was 9.0% (95% confidence interval: 8.3-9.8). A higher MCR prevalence was observed in females, older adults with a low educational level, depression and cardiovascular risk factors, South American populations, and studies with small sample sizes and cross-section designs. Furthermore, subjective cognitive complaint using scale score and gait speed using instrument gait showed higher MCR prevalence.

MCR is common in older adults, and various epidemiological characteristics influence its prevalence. Thus, preventive measures are required for older adults with higher MCR prevalence.