Key points
- Older adults are at higher risk for chronic health problems like dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
- One of the goals of Healthy People 2030 is to improve health and well-being for older adults.
- Learn more about the Core Objectives for addressing dementias, including Alzheimer's disease, in Healthy People 2030.
Why it's important
The Healthy People 2030 framework sets health priorities for the nation, establishing data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being.
One of its goals is to improve the health and well-being of older adults.
People living with dementias, including Alzheimer’s
It is a public health priority to reduce health problems and improve quality of life for older adults because:
- By 2060, almost a quarter of the U.S. population will be 65 or older.
- Older adults are at higher risk for chronic health problems like diabetes, osteoporosis, and dementia.
Core Objectives
Healthy People 2030 lays out 358 core objectives for the nation. Three of the measures are focused on dementias and several other measures for older adults relate to other health conditions.
Dementia
- Increase the proportion of older adults with dementia, or their caregivers, who know they have it—DIA-01
- Reduce the proportion of preventable hospitalizations in older adults with dementia—DIA-02
- Increase the proportion of adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) who have discussed their symptoms with a health care professional—DIA-03
Older Adults
- Increase the proportion of older adults with physical or cognitive health problems who get physical activity—OA-01
- Additional measures
Criteria
All Healthy People 2030 core objectives meet several criteria, including:
- Having baseline data.
- Having a direct impact on health.
- Having an evidence base.
- Addressing the goals related to health, function, and quality of life.
By measuring Healthy People 2030 objectives such as those above, we can gather important data to track progress over the next decade.