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Healthy Brain Initiative
The role of public health in enhancing the physical health of older
adults is well-known. Public health’s role in maintaining cognitive health,
a vital part of healthy aging and quality of life, is emerging. Cognition is
a combination of mental processes that includes the ability to learn new
things, intuition, judgment, language and remembering. The need for a
clearly delineated public health role comes at a critical time, given the
dramatic aging of the U.S. population, scientific advancements in risk
behaviors (e.g., lack of physical activity, uncontrolled high blood
pressure) related to cognitive decline, and the growing awareness of the
significant health, social and economic burdens associated with cognitive
decline. The Healthy Brain Initiative is a multi-faceted approach to
cognitive health that includes the following:
The lack of cognitive health – from mild cognitive decline to
dementia—can have profound implications for an individual’s health and
well-being. Older adults and others experiencing cognitive decline may be
unable to care for themselves or to conduct necessary activities of daily
living, such as meal preparation and money management. Limitations in the
ability to effectively manage medications and existing medical conditions
are of particular concern when an individual is experiencing cognitive
decline or dementia. If cognitive decline could be prevented or better
treated, lives of many older adults could be improved.
Opportunities for maintaining cognitive health are growing as public health
professionals gain a better understanding of risk factors for cognitive
decline. The public health community should embrace cognitive health as a
priority, invest in its promotion, and enhance our ability to move
scientific discoveries rapidly into public health practice.
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The Healthy Brain Initiative: A National Public
Health Road Map to Maintaining Cognitive Health
A National Public Health Road Map to Maintaining Cognitive Health is a
call to action and a guide to assist in implementing a coordinated approach
to moving cognitive health into public health practice. The Roadmap was
written to bring together multiple partners, agencies and organizations. It
was developed in a year long process following a research meeting on “The
Healthy Brain and Our Aging Population: Translating Science into Public
Health Practice,” in May 2006. The developmental process involved partners at the
national, state and local levels, including the Alzheimer’s Association,
National Institutes of Health, Administration on Aging, AARP, National
Association of Chronic Disease Directors, the Healthy Aging Research Network
of the Prevention Research Centers, and many others. The priority actions
are grounded in the current state of the science, emphasize primary
prevention, and are focused on community and population health. The priority
actions were developed and reviewed by over 150 experts across various
disciplines and organizations.
A National Public Health Road Map to Maintaining Cognitive Health
was
released on June 10th, 2007 at the International Prevention of Dementia
Conference in Washington, DC.
A National Public Health Road Map to
Maintaining Cognitive Health
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Research
- Understanding the publics’ perception of “brain health”
The CDC funded the Healthy Aging Research Network (PRC-HAN), a Prevention
Research Centers network of nine universities involving experts in the field
of aging and working within communities, is conducting prevention research
on older adult health issues including cognitive health. HAN members are
collaborating on a network-wide project that involves a series of focus
groups designed to identify how diverse groups of older adults understand
cognitive health and what health promotion and disease prevention approaches
related to cognitive health the public may find most appealing. This project
has recently been expanded to examine the perceptions of caregivers and
healthcare providers. It will provide important data that can be added to
what is already known about cognitive or “brain” health, identify gaps in
knowledge about cognitive health and related risk factors, and determine if
such beliefs vary across geographical distances and between diverse
populations.
Healthy Aging Research Network (PRC-HAN)
- Research Meeting on the “Healthy Brain and our Aging Population:
Translating Science to Public Health Practice”
CDC and the Alzheimer’s Association held a meeting in May 2006 to
bring together national experts to review and discuss the current
scientific knowledge of major risk and protective factors related to
maintaining cognitive function and reducing risk for cognitive decline.
Additionally, the meeting focused on addressing the potential to promote
and protect cognitive health and emotional well-being through new
collaborations and investments to move the science forward for the
benefit of the public. The findings from the research meeting have
provided a foundation and common frame of reference to moving cognitive
health forward to find programmatic and prevention research strategies
to intervene on risk factors (e.g., lack of physical activity,
uncontrolled high blood pressure) that have an impact on cognitive
health issues. Proceedings from the meeting were published in an April
2007 supplement issue, “The Healthy Brain and our Aging Population” of
Alzheimer’s & Dementia: the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
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Partnerships
CDC has established a cooperative agreement with the Alzheimer’s Association
to develop and implement a multifaceted community-based demonstration
project to educate African American baby boomers on the current state of
science related to brain-healthy lifestyles. The community intervention is
designed to effect knowledge and attitudes among African American baby
boomers related to physical activity and vascular risk factors, and it will
be overlaid with information on other general health behaviors such as diet,
social activity and mental activity. During the first phase of this project,
the Alzheimer’s Association is leading a comprehensive planning and
development effort, including formative research to assess the current needs
and obstacles for the target population, eliciting community input and
participation, and creating a comprehensive, multi-level community
intervention with robust evaluation mechanisms to measure effectiveness of
the public health project in the next phase.
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Resources
- Engaging Young People on Cognitive Health
The CDC Healthy Aging Program worked with CDC’s Science Ambassador
Program to teach budding scientists about Alzheimer’s disease. This
program partners CDC scientists with middle and high school science
teachers to develop public health-related lesson plans that meet
National Science Education standards. These lesson plans bring current
and relevant science topics into the classroom and challenge students to
think about science as it applies to their own lives.
The Aging Brain: A Lesson on Alzheimer's Disease
(PDF–336KB)
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Reference citation: Source: Himes C, Oettinger EN, Kenny DE (2004). Aging in Stride: Plan ahead,
stay connected, keep moving. Washington: Caresource Healthcare
Communications, Inc.
* Links to non-federal
organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not
constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the federal
government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for
the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.
One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format
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Page last reviewed: June 6, 2007
Page last modified: June 6, 2007
Content source: Division of Adult
and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion |
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