Bilingualism's protective effects in Alzheimer's disease: Mechanisms of resilience and resistance

Bao, W., Grasso, S. M., Sala, I., Sanchez-Saudines, M. B., Selma-Gonzalez, J., Arranz, J., Zhu, N., Rubio-Guerra, S., Rodriguez-Baz, l., Carmona-Iragui, M., Barroeta, I., Illan-Gala, I., Fortea, J., Belbin, O., Vaque-Alcazar, L., Calabria, M., Arenaza-Urquijo, E. M., Bejanin, A., Alcolea, D., Lleo, A., Santos-Santos, M. A.

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau · medrxiv

Paper

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Bilingualism is among several lifestyle factors associated with protection against cognitive decline, yet the biological mechanisms through which it exerts these effects remain poorly understood. METHODS: We compared neuropsychological functioning and biofluid markers of brain health between active (n = 280) and passive (n = 287) Spanish-Catalan bilinguals with biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease (AD). RESULTS: Active bilinguals outperformed passive bilinguals on tests assessing attention/executive functions, language, and visuospatial/visuomotor functioning, demonstrating resilience given the same AD biological stage across participants. Active bilinguals also exhibited significant differences in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers of amyloid burden and neuroinflammation, suggesting both resilience and resistance to AD pathophysiologic mechanisms. DISCUSSION: The protective effects of bilingual experience may engage both resilience and resistance to AD pathophysiology mechanisms. These results underscore the importance of capturing bilingualism in aging cohorts and the study of how lifestyle and sociocultural factors shape the biological expression of neurodegenerative disease.

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Research summary

Bilingualism may enhance cognitive resilience and resistance to Alzheimer's disease through specific biological mechanisms. The study explores lifestyle factors that could influence cognitive decline, which is pertinent to understanding aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

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