Motor Dysfunction in Mild Cognitive Impairment and the Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease

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Abstract
A wide spectrum of cognitive ability is seen in older persons, ranging from intact cognitive function to clinically manifested dementia. The term mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is increasingly used to refer to individuals who have some cognitive impairment but do not meet the criteria for dementia.1,2 Despite a lack of consensus about precisely how to define MCI, researchers agree that the condition is relatively common in older people.2,3 The presence of MCI is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but a substantial proportion of people with this heterogeneous condition do not develop dementia, underscoring the need to identify factors related to prognosis in MCI. Recent research4-6 suggests that motor function is impaired in people with MCI, but the relation of impaired motor function in MCI to subsequent risk of AD is not well understood.