Maybe reading this thread counts :-)
Canadian study shows bilingualism has protective effect in delaying onset of dementia by four years
TORONTO, Jan. 11 /CNW/ - Canadian scientists have found astonishing
evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of
dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual.
There has been much interest and growing scientific literature examining
how lifestyle factors such as physical activity, education and social
engagement may help build "cognitive reserve" in later years of life.
Now scientists with the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest
Research Centre for Aging and the Brain have found the first evidence that
another lifestyle factor, bilingualism, may help delay dementia symptoms. The
study is published in the February 2007 issue of Neuropsychologia (Vol.45,
No.2).
"We are pretty dazzled by the results," says principal investigator Ellen
Bialystok, Ph.D., whose research team at Baycrest included psychologist Dr.
Fergus Craik, a world authority on age-related changes in memory processes,
and neurologist Dr. Morris Freedman, an eminent authority on understanding the
mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment due to diseases such as
Alzheimer's. Bialystok is also a professor of psychology at York University.
Researchers examined the diagnostic records of 184 patients who came to
Baycrest's Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic between 2002 and 2005 with cognitive
complaints. Of that group, 91 were monolingual and 93 were bilingual.
The researchers determined that the mean age of onset of dementia
symptoms in the monolingual group was 71.4 years, while the bilingual group
was 75.5 years. This difference remained even after considering the possible
effect of cultural differences, immigration, formal education, employment and
even gender as influencers in the results.
"There are no pharmacological interventions that are this dramatic" in
delaying symptoms, says Dr. Freedman, who is Head of the Division of
Neurology, and Director of the Memory Clinic at Baycrest.
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Baycrest is an internationally renowned academic health sciences centre
affiliated with the University of Toronto.
A longer, more detailed version of this press release is posted on
Eurekalert and also on Baycrest's website www.baycrest.org (under "news"). |
