Association of Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome with Cardiovascular and Noncardiovascular Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a recently proposed predementia syndrome characterized by subjective cognitive impairment and slow gait. We aim to assess the cardiovascular and noncardiovascular factors associated with MCR. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Setting and Participants Studies comparing patients with MCR to those without MCR, and identifying the factors associated with MCR. Methods We used databases, including PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Embase, to identify studies evaluating the factors associated with MCR. Mean differences, odds ratios (ORs), risk ratios (RRs), and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs were calculated using Review Manager. Results Meta-analysis revealed that all cardiovascular factors, including diabetes (21 studies; OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.37, 1.64), hypertension (21 studies; OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08, 1.33), stroke (16 studies; OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.70, 2.42), heart disease (7 studies; OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.13, 1.86), coronary artery disease (5 studies; OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.16, 1.91), smoking (13 studies; OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.04, 1.58), and obesity (12 studies; OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.13, 1.59) were significantly higher in the MCR than the non-MCR group. Noncardiovascular factors, including age (22 studies; MD = 1.08, 95% CI 0.55, 1.61), education (8 studies; OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.28, 3.25), depression (17 studies; OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.65, 2.91), prior falls (9 studies; OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.17, 1.80), arthritis (6 studies; OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.07, 1.70), polypharmacy (5 studies; OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.07, 2.54), and sedentary lifestyle (11 studies; OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.59, 2.52), were significantly higher in the MCR than in the non-MCR group. Alcohol consumption (6 studies; OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72, 0.98), however, favored the MCR over the non-MCR group. Additionally, there was no significant association of MCR with gender (22 studies; OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.94, 1.15) and cancer (3 studies; OR 2.39, 95% CI 0.69, 8.28). MCR was also significantly associated with an increased likelihood of incident dementia (5 studies; HR 2.84, 95% CI 1.77, 4.56; P < .001), incident cognitive impairment [2 studies; adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.76, 95% CI 1.44, 2.15], incident falls (4 studies; RR 1.37, 95% CI 1.17, 1.60), and mortality (2 studies; aHR 1.58, 95% CI 1.35, 1.85). Conclusions and Implications MCR syndrome was significantly associated with diabetes, hypertension, stroke, obesity, smoking, low education, sedentary lifestyle, and depression. Moreover, MCR significantly increased the risk of incident dementia, cognitive impairment, falls, and mortality.