![]() ![]() In fact, some, but not all studies, report a four-to-five year delay in onset of the clinical symptoms of dementia despite comparable neuropathology. If symptoms of dementia could be postponed through promoting bilingualism, even for a few years, there could be major savings in both human costs and health economic considerations. Investigators have increasingly recognized bilingualism, or the ability to use more than one language on a daily basis, as one of the most important modifiable risk factors for delaying the expression of clinical AD. īilingualism recognized as a way of delaying clinical AD E-mail: continued unfortunate failures to develop successful disease-modifying treatments for AD, there is increased motivation to find modifiable environmental risk factors or preventative measures. Raji, MD, PhD, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, Washington University in St. Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, bilingual, brain structure, Neuroreader®, volumetrics, brain atrophy.ġThese co-authors contributed equally to this work. Future studies should extrapolate this finding into cognitively normal persons at risk for AD. This may represent a neural substrate for increased cognitive reserve in bilingualism. No brain volumes were larger in monolinguals.Ĭonclusion: Bilinguals demonstrated larger thalamic, ventral diencephalon, and brainstem volumes compared to matched monolinguals with AD. Bilingualism positively correlated with hippocampal volume, though not statistically significant (rp = 0.17, p = 0.26). Partial correlations showed statistical significance between bilingualism and larger volumes in brainstem (rp =0.37, p = 0.01), thalamus (rp = 0.31, p = 0.04), ventral diencephalon (rp = 0.50, p = 0.001), and pallidum (rp = 0.38, p = 0.01). Statistical significance (p < 0.05) was observed in brainstem (t = 2.33, p = 0.02, Cohen’s D= 0.71) and ventral diencephalon (t = 3.01, p = 0.004, Cohen’s D= 0.91). ![]() Results: Bilinguals had higher brain volumes in 37 structures. Partial correlations between bilingualism and brain volumes adjusted for age, gender, and TIV. Regional volumes as fraction of total intracranial volume (TIV) were compared between both groups, and Cohen’s D effect sizes were calculated for statistically significant structures. Brain volumes were quantified with Neuroreader®. Methods: This IRB approved study analyzed T1 volumetric brain MRIs of patients with criteria-supported Probable AD.We identified 17 sequential bilinguals (any native language) with Probable AD, matched to 28 (62%) monolinguals on age and MMSE. Objective: Compare MRI measured brain volumes in matched bilinguals versus monolinguals with AD. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA.īackground: Bilingualism is increasingly recognized as protective in persons at risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Johns Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA, eV.A. Louis, MO, USA bDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA, cDepartment of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA, dThe John Wayne Cancer Institute and Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Providence and St. Mendez b,c,e, aMallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, Washington University in St. Raji, a,1, ∗, Somayeh Meysami b,1, David A. ![]()
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