ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2026
Sensorimotor Impairment and Incident Dementia in the US Medicare Beneficiaries.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Targeting Pain and Depression in Alzheimer's Disease: Translational Insights and Emerging Treatments.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Sensorimotor Impairment and Incident Dementia in the US Medicare Beneficiaries.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSensorimotor impairments, including sensory (vision and hearing) and motor (standing balance, gait, chair stands, grip strength) deficits, are prevalent in older adults and are associated with an increased risk of dementia. Understanding the individual and combined effects of these impairments on dementia risk may enhance early detection and preventive strategies. We examined the association between baseline sensory difficulties and motor impairments, individually and collectively, with dementia over up to 11 years.
methodsWe used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative study of US community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥ 65 years. Participants cognitively unimpaired at baseline in 2011 were followed annually through 2022. Baseline exposures included self-reported sensory difficulties (vision, hearing) and objectively measured motor impairments (standing balance, gait speed, chair stand, grip strength). The primary outcome was incident dementia, assessed annually based on NHATS consensus procedures. Survey-weighted Cox proportional hazards models assessed the association between each impairment and number of impairments and incident dementia, adjusting for demographics and clinical conditions.
resultsThe analytic sample included 3847 participants (weighted average age 73.9 (95% CI, 73.7-74.1) years, 56% women). Over an average follow-up of 5.2 years, vision difficulty (HR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13-1.60), standing balance impairment (HR = 1.23; 95% CI, 1.10-1.39), slow gait speed (HR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.34-1.67), impaired chair stand performance (HR = 1.31; 95% CI, 1.18-1.47), and weak grip strength (HR = 1.31; 95% CI, 1.13-1.51) were each independently associated with higher dementia risk. Compared to no impairments, dementia risk increased significantly with three or more sensorimotor impairments (HR = 1.44 to 1.96).
conclusionsIn this nationally representative cohort, vision difficulty and motor impairments were independently associated with increased dementia risk over up to 11 years. The presence of multiple sensory difficulties and motor impairments substantially increased the risk of dementia, emphasizing the importance of their early detection and management to reduce dementia risk.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.