NICE has begun a consultation on draft guideline on how to increase the number of older people who can lead independent, healthy and active lives, by changing behaviour mid-life.
Draft recommendations issued for consultation include:
• Local authority departments, health and social care providers taking advantage of times of life when substantial change occurs such as retirement, children leaving home, adoption of a caring role for elderly relatives or grandchildren. These are times when people may consider adopting new healthy behaviours, and are therefore good opportunities to give advice.
• National government, Public Health England and NHS England should commission national campaigns using a range of media and resources to show how the risk of dementia, disability and frailty can be reduced and to promote the concept of keeping mentally and physically healthy.
• Local authority commissioners, clinical commissioning groups and providers of behaviour change interventions and programmes should provide multicomponent online interventions including both web and app-based components to help people change behaviours that put them at risk.
The draft guidance will be available on the NICE website from 11 July 2014.
Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Centre for Public Health at NICE, said: "The good news is that we are living longer, but these extra years are not always spent in good health. Ill health and dependency are not inevitable consequences of old age. The risk of developing dementia, disability and frailty can be reduced.
"This new draft guideline aims to help people to prevent or delay dementia, disability and frailty in later life by promoting mid-life changes. This includes encouraging people to stop smoking, become more physically active, drinking less alcohol, eating healthily, and maintaining a healthy weight.
"Everyone now understands that smoking, drinking too much alcohol, being inactive or overweight can seriously damage your health, but what many people don't realise is that these factors also increase the likelihood of them developing dementia. But what is really clear from the evidence we looked at is that people who become more active, even when they are a bit older, are far less likely to develop dementia; they are also less likely to develop cardiovascular disease and cancer.
"Obviously the earlier in life that healthy changes are made the better, but it's never too late to start."
Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, added: "We strongly agree that people need to make changes now to reduce the likelihood of difficulties in later life. This applies just as much to social contact as it does to physical health: loneliness and social isolation can be prevented too.
"However it's harder to persuade people to think 20 or 30 years ahead when governments, of all persuasions, rarely plan more than 2 or 3 years ahead. There's an urgent need for this and the next government to take the necessary action now for the major demographic changes that ageing will bring to our society."
