Department of Sociology, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.
Expertisecentrum Dementie Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Belgium.
Aging Ment Health. 2021 Aug;25(8):1376-1380. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1783514. Epub 2020 Jun 26.
Many publications on dementia start by outlining the current estimated number of people with dementia and how that figure is going to double (in Western societies) or even quadruple (in developing countries) in the coming decades as a result of increasing life expectancy (in itself a good development). Dementia is therefore a huge challenge to society, both in terms of providing good care for persons living with dementia and their family caregivers, as well as in searching for curative solutions. Both these challenges are complex. Fortunately, recent research indicates primary prevention to be a promising additional strategy in the dementia quest. Now that epidemiological research robustly shows the link between lifestyle and risk of dementia, new challenges emerge, such as how to increase public awareness about brain health, how to develop and implement strategies to promote brain healthy lifestyles and how to avoid increasing health inequalities. Interdem, the pan-European network of researchers on Psychosocial Interventions in Dementia, strongly welcomes this new strategy and consequently established a taskforce on primary prevention. In this position paper, we outline what we see as main building blocks of primary prevention of dementia.
许多关于痴呆症的出版物首先概述了目前估计的痴呆症患者人数，以及由于预期寿命的延长（本身就是一个良好的发展），在未来几十年内，这一数字将在西方社会翻一番，甚至在发展中国家翻两番。因此，痴呆症是对社会的巨大挑战，无论是为生活在痴呆症患者和他们的家庭照顾者提供良好的护理，还是寻找治疗方法。这两个挑战都很复杂。幸运的是，最近的研究表明，初级预防是痴呆症研究中一个有前途的额外策略。现在，流行病学研究有力地表明了生活方式与痴呆症风险之间的联系，新的挑战出现了，例如如何提高公众对大脑健康的认识，如何制定和实施促进大脑健康生活方式的策略，以及如何避免健康不平等加剧。跨欧洲痴呆症心理社会干预研究网络（Interdem）非常欢迎这一新策略，并因此成立了一个初级预防工作组。在这份立场文件中，我们概述了我们认为是痴呆症初级预防的主要组成部分。
