Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32045913›Full record

ArticleDementia and geriatric cognitive disorders2019

Bilingualism Delays Expression of Alzheimer's Clinical Syndrome.

Mario F Mendez, Diana Chavez, Golnoush Akhlaghipour

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Association of cognitive impairment and APOE ε4 with Centiloids in Hispanic and non-Hispanic White cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. The role of bilingualism on functional decline and neurodegeneration in distinct ADRD clinical syndromes.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Mario F MendezV.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, California, USA, mmendez@ucla.edu.
Diana ChavezDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Golnoush AkhlaghipourDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Funding

Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Phenotypes: Neuropsychology and Neural NetworksRF1AG050967 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI MENDEZ, MARIO F. · 2016 to 2016
$1.9M
NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG050967
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the effects of bilingualism on the emergence of Alzheimer's clinical syndrome.

backgroundStudies have proposed an increase in cognitive and neural reserve from the management and control of two languages, with a consequent delayed expression of dementia.

methodsIn a clinic with a large immigrant population, we identified 253 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) with intermediate or high evidence of AD pathophysiological process. These patients were reviewed for demographic variables, native language (L1) other than English, ages of onset and presentation, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), digit spans, word fluencies, naming, and memory.

resultsAmong these patients, 74 (29.2%) were bilinguals with various L1s (Farsi, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Arabic, others). When compared to the 179 monolingual AD patients, those who were bilingual had significant delays in ages of onset and presentation of approximately 4 years (p = 0.003). These delays persisted despite bilinguals having worse MMSE scores on presentation. There were no significant group differences on other variables except for worse naming in English among bilinguals versus monolinguals. Caregiver/informants reported that 66 (89.2%) of the 74 bilingual AD patients had gradually regressed to the predominant use of their L1.

conclusionsIn line with published reports worldwide, we found that bilingualism delays the expression of Alzheimer's clinical syndrome. We also found frequent reversion to the first learned language. These findings suggest that, among bilinguals, the availability of an L1 "back-up" either facilitates compensation or masks emergence of the early symptoms of dementia.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseCognitive ReserveEmigrants and ImmigrantsMultilingualismAgedAge of OnsetFemaleHumansLanguageMaleMemoryMental Status and Dementia TestsNeuropsychological TestsUnited StatesAge of onsetAlzheimer’s diseaseBilingualismDementiaLanguage

Identifiers

PMID32045913
PMCPMC7195235

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.