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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Outcome After Stroke
Suvarna Alladi1, Thomas H Bak2, Shailaja Mekala2
1From the Department of Neurology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India (S.A., S.M., A.R., R.K., S.K.); Department of Psychology, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom (T.H.B.); Department of Neurology, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, India (J.R.C.); Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (E.M.); Cognitive Science Laboratory, IIIT, Hyderabad, India (B.S.); and Department of Linguistics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India (V.D.). alladisuvarna@hotmail.com.
Background And Purpose:
Bilingualism has been associated with slower cognitive aging and a later onset of dementia. In this study, we aimed to determine whether bilingualism also influences cognitive outcome after stroke.
Methods:
We examined 608 patients with ischemic stroke from a large stroke registry and studied the role of bilingualism in predicting poststroke cognitive impairment in the absence of dementia.
Results:
A larger proportion of bilinguals had normal cognition compared with monolinguals (40.5% versus 19.6%; P<0.0001), whereas the reverse was noted in patients with cognitive impairment, including vascular dementia and vascular mild cognitive impairment (monolinguals 77.7% versus bilinguals 49.0%; P<0.0009). There were no differences in the frequency of aphasia (monolinguals 11.8% versus bilinguals 10.5%; P=0.354). Bilingualism was found to be an independent predictor of poststroke cognitive impairment.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that bilingualism leads to a better cognitive outcome after stroke, possibly by enhancing cognitive reserve.
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