Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco.
Neuropsychology. 2018 Jan;32(1):77-88. doi: 10.1037/neu0000356. Epub 2017 Oct 2.
This study examined the influence of education, country where education occurred, and monolingual-bilingual (English/Spanish) language usage on late life cognitive trajectories in the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging (SALSA), an epidemiological study of health and cognition in Hispanics, mostly of Mexican origin, age 60 and over (N = 1,499).
SALSA followed a large cohort of older Latinos for up to 7 assessment waves from 1998 to 2007. Global cognition was assessed by using the Modified Mini Mental State Examination, and the Spanish English Verbal Learning Test was used to measure episodic memory. Education, country of origin, and language usage patterns were collected at the baseline assessment and used as predictors of longitudinal trajectories of cognition. Parallel process mixed effects models were used to examine effects of education and language variables on baseline cognition and rate of cognitive decline.
Mixed effects longitudinal models showed that education had strong effects on baseline global cognition and verbal memory but was not related to decline over up to 9 years of longitudinal follow-up. Differences in education effects between subgroups educated in Mexico and in the United States were minor. Monolingual-bilingual language usage was not related to cognitive decline, and bilinguals did not significantly differ from monolingual English speakers on baseline cognitive scores.
Hypotheses that higher education and bilingualism protect against late life cognitive decline were not supported and education effects on late-life cognitive trajectories did not substantially differ across U.S.- and Mexico-educated groups. (PsycINFO Database Record
本研究考察了教育、教育发生的国家以及单语-双语（英语/西班牙语）语言使用对萨克拉门托拉丁裔老龄化研究（SALSA）中老年人认知轨迹的影响，SALSA 是一项针对健康和认知的流行病学研究，主要针对 60 岁及以上的墨西哥裔西班牙裔人（N=1499）。
SALSA 对一个大型老年拉丁裔队列进行了长达 7 次评估波的随访，时间从 1998 年到 2007 年。采用改良的简易精神状态检查评估总体认知能力，采用西班牙语-英语词语学习测验评估情景记忆。在基线评估时收集教育、原籍国和语言使用模式，并将其作为认知纵向轨迹的预测因素。平行过程混合效应模型用于检验教育和语言变量对基线认知和认知衰退率的影响。
混合效应纵向模型显示，教育对基线总体认知和词语记忆有很强的影响，但与长达 9 年的纵向随访期间的认知衰退无关。在墨西哥和美国接受教育的亚组之间，教育效果的差异较小。单语-双语语言使用与认知衰退无关，双语者与只讲英语的单语者在基线认知评分上没有显著差异。
较高的教育和双语能力可以预防晚年认知衰退的假设未得到支持，而且教育对晚年认知轨迹的影响在美国和墨西哥接受教育的群体中没有显著差异。
