Association of sensory impairment severity and assistive device use with prevalent and incident motoric cognitive risk syndrome

There is growing evidence that the sensory impairments in visual and/or hearing are associated with dementia, however, the association with relationship between sensory impairments, assistive device use, and motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the association between sensory impairment and MCR, and to assess the impact of sensory impairment severity and assistive devices. A prospective cohort study. Participants aged ≥ 60 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2011 and 2015 waves were included in the current study. Sensory impairments were assessed from self-reported questionnaire. MCR was defined as subjective cognitive complaints combined with slow gait speed. Participants were categorized by sensory function and assistive device use. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between sensory impairments, assistive device use, and MCR risk. Among 4882 participants, the overall prevalence of MCR was 11.92%, with 80.66% having visual impairment and 63.03% having hearing impairment. Cross-sectionally, visual and hearing impairments were associated with 1.59-fold (95% CI: 1.06–2.38) and 1.62-fold (95% CI: 1.17–2.24) higher odds of MCR, respectively. Longitudinally, severe sensory impairments significantly increased MCR risk (visual: OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.20–3.86; hearing: OR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.29–3.04). Sensory impairment participants without assistive device showed increased risk of new-onset MCR (visual: OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.09–3.71; hearing: OR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.30–2.96) but no significant association was detected in participants with visual assistive device. This study highlights the significant association between sensory impairments and MCR in older Chinese adults, with severity of impairment and lack of assistive device use exacerbating risk. The findings underscore the importance of early detection and intervention for sensory deficits to mitigate cognitive decline. Sensory impairments including visual and hearing impairments were associated with motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR). In addition, the sensory impairment individuals without assistive device showed increased risk of new-onset MCR.