BMC Geriatrics
Volume 16, Issue 1, 2016, Pages 1-9

Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening (Article) (Open Access)

Padilla C. , Mendez M.F. , Jimenez E.E. , Teng E.*
  • a Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • b Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • c Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • d Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

Background: Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. Methods: We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. Results: After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001). Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. Conclusions: These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations. © 2016 The Author(s).

Author Keywords

SALSA aging Cognitive decline bilingualism Cognitive reserve

Index Keywords

longitudinal study mass screening Dementia human epidemiology Longitudinal Studies intelligence test aging comparative study Aged ethnology procedures Cross-Sectional Studies United States cross-sectional study migrant neuropsychological test Neuropsychological Tests psychology Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants Intelligence Tests female cognition Geriatric Assessment Multilingualism
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84996868000&doi=10.1186%2fs12877-016-0368-1&partnerID=40&md5=ff6a74cbd46fa748078fa07ab5439f50
DOI: 10.1186/s12877-016-0368-1
ISSN: 14712318
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English