Association between motoric cognitive risk syndrome and frailty among Chinese older adults

Background: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a newly proposed pre-dementia syndrome incorporating subjective cognitive complaints and slow gait. Previous studies have shown that subjective cognitive complaints and slow gait are reported to be associated with frailty in cognitively unimpaired older adults, but little is known giving attention to the link between MCR and frailty in older adults. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the associations of MCR and its components and frailty in Chinese older adults. Methods: In an observation cross-sectional study, a total of 429 older adults aged 60 years and older were admitted to the geriatric department. According to MCR criteria, all participants were classified to 4 groups: 1) MCR group; 2) subjective cognitive complaints group; 3) slow gait group; 4) healthy control group. Physical frailty was assessed by Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between MCR and frailty in older adults. Results: The prevalence of subjective cognitive complaints, slow gait and MCR was 15.9%, 10.0% and 4.0%, respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables, the logistic regression analysis showed that slow gait (odds ratio [OR] 3.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40-8.23, P=0.007) and MCR (odds ratio [OR] 5.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.46-20.89, P=0.012) were independently associated with frailty, but not subjective cognitive complaints. Conclusions: MCR and slow gait were significantly associated with frailty in Chinese older adults. Further study should prospectively determine the causal relationship between MCR and frailty.