Association of multimorbidity patterns with motoric cognitive risk syndrome among older adults: Evidence from a China longitudinal study

Abstract Objectives Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), a pre‐dementia syndrome, is characterized by slow gait and subjective cognitive complaints among older adults. This study assessed the relationship between multimorbidity, its patterns, and MCR. Methods Data for this study were obtained from three waves (2011, 2013, and 2015) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Participants who were aged 60 years and older and had complete data at baseline as well as complete data about MCR at follow‐up were selected. Patients without MCR at baseline were selected for further analyses. Longitudinal associations between multimorbidity, its patterns, and MCR were examined using a Cox proportional hazards model. Multimorbidity patterns were classified using latent class analysis. Results A total of 4923 respondents were included at baseline, 43.47% of whom had multimorbidity. Additionally, the prevalence of MCR at baseline was 12.61%. After adjusting for covariates, multimorbidity was positively associated with MCR (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06–1.68). A higher number of multimorbidity was also significantly associated with an increased risk of developing MCR (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02–1.19). Three multimorbidity patterns were selected: relatively healthy pattern, respiratory pattern, and cardiovascular pattern. Older adults with the cardiovascular pattern were 1.57 times more likely to develop MCR than those with the relatively healthy pattern (HR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.16–2.13). There was no significant difference between the relatively healthy pattern and the respiratory pattern (HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 0.91–1.92). Conclusions MCR is highly prevalent among older Chinese adults. MCR may be exacerbated by multimorbidity. For older adults with multimorbidity (especially cardiovascular multimorbidity), attention should be paid to MCR to achieve early detection, diagnosis, and treatment.