Primary Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease in Indonesia

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. An increase number in the proportion of elders is accompanied by an increase of degenerative diseases and disabilities, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Prevalence of dementia in Indonesia is 1.2 million cases in 2015 and will keep increasing up to 3,980,000 in 2050. This study discusses data on the prevalence of dementia’s risk factors in Indonesia, calculates population-attributable risks (PAR) to identify the number of dementia cases that could be prevented, and determines which intervention strategies will have the most significant effect in reducing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) cases. Prevalence of potentially modifiable risk factors for AD such as low education, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and mental disorders are still high. Moreover, the prevalences keep increasing for the last five years. Low education has the highest estimated PAR, which could significantly lower new AD cases if it is being improved. Ten and thirty percent of risk factor reduction can decrease AD cases by 18,000 and 66,000 cases. In addition, reducing physical inactivity by 10% and 30% can reduce 19,000 and 55,000 cases of AD respectively; lowering 10% prevalence of midlife hypertension and diabetes can reduce 2400 and 1600 cases of AD. Decreasing 10% of all risk factors is estimated to reduce 22,000 of new AD cases. By reducing these modifiable risk factors, especially by improving access to education, the incidence of AD could be greatly reduced. This review is expected to give suggestion to the government in determining the priority scale of controlling risk factors for reducing the social and economic burden caused by AD