Purpose: 

Conversion rates from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer disease (AD) were examined considering bilingualism as a measure of cognitive reserve.

Methods: 

Older adult bilingual (n=75) and monolingual (n=83) patients attending a memory clinic who were diagnosed with MCI were evaluated for conversion to AD. Age of MCI and AD diagnoses and time to convert were recorded and compared across language groups.

Patients: 

Patients were consecutive patients diagnosed with MCI at a hospital memory clinic.

Results: 

Bilingual patients were diagnosed with MCI at a later age than monolingual patients (77.8 and 75.5 y, respectively), a difference that was significant in some analyses. However, bilingual patients converted faster from MCI to AD than monolingual patients (1.8 and 2.8 y, respectively) resulting in no language group difference in age of AD diagnosis. This relationship held after accounting for education, cognitive level, immigration status, and sex.

Discussion: 

The findings suggest that greater cognitive reserve as measured by language status leads to faster conversion between MCI and AD, all else being equal.

中文翻译：

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单语和双语患者轻度认知障碍向阿尔茨海默病的转化。

目的： 

从轻度认知障碍(MCI) 到阿尔茨海默病(AD) 的转换率进行了检查，考虑将双语作为认知储备的衡量标准。

方法： 

在记忆诊所就诊的被诊断为 MCI 的老年双语 (n=75) 和单语 (n=83) 患者被评估为转换为 AD。记录并比较不同语言组的 MCI 和 AD 诊断年龄和转换时间。

患者： 

患者是在医院记忆诊所诊断为 MCI 的连续患者。

结果： 

双语患者被诊断患有 MCI 的年龄比单语患者晚（分别为 77.8 和 75.5 岁），这一差异在一些分析中是显着的。然而，双语患者从 MCI 转变为 AD 的速度比单语患者快（分别为 1.8 和 2.8 岁），导致 AD 诊断年龄没有语言组差异。这种关系在考虑了教育、认知水平、移民身份和性别后仍然成立。

讨论： 

研究结果表明，在其他条件相同的情况下，以语言状态衡量的认知储备越大，MCI 和 AD 之间的转换就越快。