Theme recognition and evolutionary analysis of older adults cognitive disorder prevention and control policies based on the BERTopic model.

INTRODUCTION: The early diagnosis and treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can help decelerate or even reverse the progression of dementia. Therefore, China attaches great importance to the prevention and control of MCI and has introduced a series of policies. METHODS: Policy themes were identified by pre-processing, vectorizing, and clustering relevant policy texts by using the BERTopic model, and their temporal evolution patterns were revealed through dynamic topic modeling. RESULTS: Central-level policies on cognitive impairment prevention and control encompass 12 themes, which can be classified into three major categories: community prevention and early screening, multistakeholder participation in rehabilitation work, and collaborative high-risk chronic disease management. Different work priorities were observed during the initial budding (2005-2018), progressive consolidation (2019-2023), and rapid development (2024-present) stages. Policies consider comorbidity management and demonstrate simultaneous systematization and refinement, with the focus of prevention and control gradually moving forward and responsibilities becoming increasingly diversified. However, issues, such as an underdeveloped comorbidity management system, insufficient coordination between central and local authorities, poor linkage between stages, and inadequate multistakeholder collaboration, persist. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: In the future, constructing cognitive impairment prevention and control implementation pathways tailored to local resources; establishing policy transition mechanisms; improving multidepartment and multistakeholder collaboration networks; and enhancing the role of personnel in early screening, rehabilitation interventions, and comorbidity management are necessary to promote effective policy translation and implementation.