Gray Matter Volume as Evidence for Cognitive Reserve in Bilinguals With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Compared with monolinguals, bilinguals have a later onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease symptoms and greater neuropathology at similar cognitive and clinical levels. The present study follows a previous report showing the faster conversion from MCI to Alzheimer disease for bilingual patients than comparable monolinguals, as predicted by a cognitive reserve (CR). Purpose: Identify whether the increased CR found for bilinguals in the previous study was accompanied by greater gray matter (GM) atrophy than was present for the monolinguals. Methods: A novel deep-learning technique based on convolutional neural networks was used to enhance clinical scans into 1 mm MPRAGEs and analyze the GM volume at the time of MCI diagnosis in the earlier study. Patients: Twenty-four bilingual and 24 monolingual patients were diagnosed with MCI at a hospital memory clinic. Results: Bilingual patients had more GM loss than monolingual patients in areas related to language processing, attention, decision-making, motor function, and episodic memory retrieval. Bilingualism and age were the strongest predictors of atrophy after other variables such as immigration and education were included in a multivariate model. Discussion: CR from bilingualism is evident in the initial stages of neurodegeneration after MCI has been diagnosed.