Universal Prevention of Dementia in Italy: A Document Analysis of the 21 Italian Regional Prevention Plans

Background

Up to 40% of dementia cases are theoretically avoidable and population-level interventions (i.e., universal prevention) are a key component in facing the global public health challenge of dementia. However, information on the agenda for the universal prevention of dementia at the national and sub-national levels is still lacking.

Objectives

We aim to provide a comprehensive description of the universal prevention strategies specific to dementia in Italian regions and autonomous provinces (APs).

Design

We conducted a document analysis of the 21 Italian Regional Prevention Plans (RPPs), with a focus on interventions that target potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia. We analysed the final version of the documents, which were previously downloaded from the dedicated section of the Italian Ministry of Health website in January 2023. We classified the interventions as direct, indirect, or absent. Additionally, we created a quality checklist to outline the essential programmatic elements and applied it to summarise the key findings of the RPPs.

Measurements

We reported the number of populationlevel interventions specific for dementia with sub-national detail. We reported information on the risk factor targeted by the interventions, the age groups and populations they were designed for. We summarized the presence or absence of 63 programmatic items using a four-domain checklist.

Results

We identified 248 interventions for dementia prevention among the assessed RPPs: 100% of the plans addressed physical inactivity; 30–35% addressed smoking, alcohol, obesity, and social isolation; 25% addressed hypertension, diabetes, and air pollution; only 5–10% addressed education, depression, and hearing loss. Most interventions targeted the general population. Quality checklist scores significantly varied among regions, with demographics and prevention strategies domains scoring higher than disease burden and intervention feasibility ones.

Conclusions

The population-level interventions in the Italian Regional Prevention Programs dedicated to dementia prevention primarily focus on vascular risk factors, with limited coverage of dementia-specific factors such as traumatic brain injury and hearing loss. This data should be considered when planning future interventions for dementia prevention.