Alzheimer''s Australia 15th National Conference Page 126

126

FiFtEENtH NatiONal CONFERENCE

FRiday 17 may

11:00 11:30am

Concert Hall

ReseaRch

assEssiNg laNguagE CHaNgEs

assOCiatEd WitH dEmENtia aNd

COgNitivE imPaiRmENt iN OldER

biliNguals

Miller amberber, A

1,2

*, Sachdev, P

1,2

, Kochan,

1,2

, Low, LF

, Draper, B

2,3

Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of

Psychiatry, University of New South Wales,
Sydney, Australia

Dementia Collaborative Research Centres -

Assessment and Better Care, University of
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

School of Psychiatry, University of New South

Wales, Sydney Australia

Introduction:

This research aims to identify critical language
changes in the first and second language
(English) associated with cognitive impairment
and dementia in older bilinguals. Impaired
language and communication impact on
independence, social interaction, and quality-of-
life, and contribute significantly to carer stress
and burden of care. Current knowledge of
language changes associated with progressive
cognitive impairment in bilinguals is scarce.
While anecdotal reports suggest greater loss in
the second language, this does not occur for all
bilingual individuals with dementia and further
investigation is urgently required.

Method:

Participants comprise a cohort of 64 bilingual
individuals currently enrolled in the Sydney
Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) who speak
one of four target community languages
(Hungarian, Italian, French, German) and

English. Testing on a language task battery
is conducted separately in each language at
commencement and 12 months after initial
testing. Performance in the first and second
language will be compared across bilinguals
without cognitive impairment, bilinguals with
mild cognitive impairment, and bilinguals with
cognitive impairment that has progressed
to dementia. Individual language results will
be compared to performance on the Sydney
MAS, enabling correlations between language
performance, neuropsychological, imaging and
genetic testing.

Results:

Current initial testing is underway and
preliminary findings will be presented.

conclusions:

Given the increasing prevalence of bilingualism,
a better understanding of how dementia
impacts on language and communication in
older bilinguals is essential. The findings of
this research will improve knowledge of critical
language changes in bilinguals with cognitive
impairment and dementia and contribute to
enhanced early diagnosis and carer education.