1. Beneficial effect of bilingualism on Alzheimer's disease CSF biomarkers and cognition.
- Author
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Estanga A, Ecay-Torres M, Ibañez A, Izagirre A, Villanua J, Garcia-Sebastian M, Iglesias Gaspar MT, Otaegui-Arrazola A, Iriondo A, Clerigue M, and Martinez-Lage P
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease cerebrospinal fluid, Biomarkers cerebrospinal fluid, Cohort Studies, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Spatial Processing, Alzheimer Disease diagnosis, Alzheimer Disease psychology, Cognition, Cognitive Aging psychology, Cognitive Reserve physiology, Multilingualism, tau Proteins cerebrospinal fluid
- Abstract
Bilingualism as a component of cognitive reserve has been claimed to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, its effect on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD-biomarkers has not been investigated. We assessed cognitive performance and CSF AD-biomarkers, and potential moderation effect of bilingualism on the association between age, CSF AD-biomarkers, and cognition. Cognitively healthy middle-aged participants classified as monolinguals (n = 100, n
CSF = 59), early (n = 81, nCSF = 55) and late bilinguals (n = 97, nCSF = 52) were evaluated. Models adjusted for confounders showed that bilinguals performed better than monolinguals on digits backwards (early-bilinguals p = 0.003), Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) (early-bilinguals p = 0.018; late-bilinguals p = 0.004), and Trail Making Test-B (late-bilinguals p = 0.047). Early bilingualism was associated with lower CSF total-tau (p = 0.019) and lower prevalence of preclinical AD (NIA-AA classification) (p = 0.02). Bilingualism showed a moderation effect on the relationship between age and CSF AD-biomarkers and the relationship between age and executive function. We conclude that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve enhancing executive and visual-spatial functions. For the first time, this study reveals that early bilingualism is associated with more favorable CSF AD-biomarker profile., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2017
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