[Prevention and health promotion in dementia: motivation for change within preventive interventions-Empirical results].

BACKGROUND

Aging healthily and prevention of diseases are statutory and a national health target. There is convincing evidence that describes the modifiable risk factors, which are principally suitable for preventive measures.

OBJECTIVE

Definition of terms, presentation of the roots of prevention in laws, strategies and guidelines. Presentation of the risk factors for dementia, outline of effective preventive measures and their promising components.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Prevention is systematically described. The available evidence on risk factors, health behavior and preventive measures is analyzed. A multimodal intervention is presented and the influence of motivation on a change in behavior is outlined, exemplified by physical activity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Aging healthily is a national health target and prevention of disease is rooted and defined in both the legislation and guidelines. The current evidence on modifiable risk factors for dementia originates from 12 factors. These include behavior-associated factors, such as inactivity, diabetes and smoking. The efficacy of preventive measures can be described by their effectiveness, the utilization when available and the principal availability for all people for whom they are indicated. Changing a health behavior is complex and dependent among other things on the motivation to want to change a behavior. Currently, multimodal prevention programs appear to be very promising for the prevention of cognitive disorders and dementia.