Concepts of dementia prevention in the health promotion among older adults: A narrative review

Abstract

The number of older adults with dementia is predicted to markedly increase in the coming decades. A person suffers from dementia every 3 seconds globally, and one out of every 7 people suffers from dementia in Taiwan. The purpose of this narrative review is to integrate existing concepts of dementia prevention into health promotion and improve older adults' quality of life. This narrative review was performed using the PubMed database by searching for basic research and systematic reviews on dementia prevention and health promotion among older adults. We established a framework for dementia prevention and health promotion with regard to the physical, mental, spiritual, and social health aspects. We identified the following strategies related to older adults towards dementia prevention and health promotion in follows: Physical health promotion: cognitive activities, physical activities, body mass index, balanced diet, rainbow diet, Mediterranean diet, dietary approaches to stop hypertension diet, mind diet, no smoking and drinking, avoiding the "three highs" (i.e., hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension), and head trauma; Mental health promotion: Positive thinking, Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5), depression scale, and ascertained dementia 8 questionnaire (AD8) screening; Spiritual health promotion: religious beliefs, spiritual music, meditative activities, mindfulness, yoga, Qi-gong, Tai-chi, and Baduanjin; and Social health promotion: A supportive family system, socialization, social support, social networks, social interaction, and social participation. The conclusion of this narrative review was to integrate the concepts of dementia prevention and health promotion among older adults.