Association between depressive symptom trajectories and motoric cognitive risk syndrome in older adults: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: Depression has been identified as a potential risk factor for motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), a predementia syndrome characterized by the co-occurrence of subjective cognitive complaints and slow gait speed. However, the long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms and their associations with MCR remain unclear. METHODS: A total of 3,754 participants from the 2011-2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included. Group-based trajectory modeling was employed to identify distinct depressive symptom trajectories. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between these trajectories and the development of MCR. RESULTS: This study identified four depressive symptom trajectories: low-stable (n = 2,491, 66.4%), high-decreasing (n = 561, 14.9%), medium-increasing (n = 499, 13.3%), and high-stable (n = 203, 5.4%). After adjusting for covariates, multivariable logistic regression revealed significant associations between depressive symptom trajectories and MCR. Compared with the low-stable group, the high-decreasing group, medium-increasing group, and high-stable group all showed significantly increased odds of developing MCR. CONCLUSIONS: In this study cohort of older Chinese adults, long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms were associated with an elevated likelihood of MCR. These findings suggest that the longitudinal course of depressive symptoms may provide tentative insights for risk stratification and earlier identification of older adults at risk of motor-cognitive decline.