Multilingualism as a factor in slowing down aging: new data from European studies

A study of 86,149 participants from 27 European countries found that multilingualism may have a protective effect against accelerated aging. As part of this study, researchers analyzed data from national surveys reflecting individual positive (such as functional capacity, education, cognitive ability) and negative factors (cardiometabolic conditions, female gender, sensory impairment). The obtained biobehavioral age indices confirmed that positive factors are associated with slowing down aging, while negative factors are associated with accelerating it.

Source Nature 

It turned out that people who speak several languages have a significantly lower risk of accelerated aging. In particular, in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, multilingualism emerged as a protective factor (country hazard ratios = 0.46 and 0.70, respectively), while monolingualism increased the risk of accelerated aging (hazard ratios = 2.11 and 1.43).

These results emphasize the importance of multilingualism as a factor that can positively influence the aging process. The study reveals new opportunities for large population-based studies in this area and not only in clinical cohorts, which could significantly affect approaches to healthy aging in European countries.