Smoking and Diabetes 'Risk Factors' for Calcium Buildup in Brain

A computed tomography (CT) imaging study published in Radiology of people with memory problems found smoking and diabetes are associated with calcium buildup in the brain's hippocampus, reports Medical News Today . The researchers say their findings could be significant because they support the idea that the "calcifications may be of vascular origin." They note the multiplanar brain CT scan "makes it possible to see the hippocampus in different anatomical planes; for example, from top to bottom, right to left, and front to back." Their analysis of multiplanar brain CT scans of about 2,000 people who had attended a hospital memory clinic from 2009 to 2015 sought to investigate any associations between risk factors known to cause vascular problems and hippocampal calcifications; and to learn whether calcium buildup in the hippocampus affects cognitive function. They determined 19 percent of study participants had hippocampal calcifications, and that "older age," smoking, and diabetes "were associated with the presence of hippocampal calcifications." However, the team observed no connections between calcium accumulation in the hippocampus and cognitive function.