Simple Tool May ID Dementia Risk in Seniors

A higher incidence of a pre-dementia condition called motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) was seen with advancing age in older, healthy adults, according to researchers. MCR is "a newly described pre-dementia syndrome characterized by slow gait and cognitive complaints," they wrote online in Neurology. Over the last decade or so, there has been growing evidence that gait impairment or slowing gait occurs very early in the course of dementia," Verghese told MedPage Today. "What we have found is that slowing gait combined with cognitive complaint has a greater predictive value in patients at risk for dementia than either feature alone."