Correlation between smoking and brain atrophy detected by cross sectional imaging

Abstract

Background and objectives: Smoking have effect on many organs in human body, we are focusing on its relation with brain atrophy. We aimed to determine whether there is an association between smoking and brain atrophy by using certain parameters from CT scan or MRI of brain. Methods: This is a case control study done from December 2019 to May 2021, a total of 100 cases of CT scans and MRI brain which is randomly selected reviewed by taking certain measurements like frontal horn index, Evans ratio, bicaudate index, huckman number, cella media. Results: Brain atrophy group involved 50 cases and control non-atrophy group 50 cases both group with equal number of male and female, there is statistically significant difference between smokers with brain atrophy 30% and smokers with no brain atrophy 6% with p-value 0.027, also the mean duration of smoking among brain atrophy was 17.83 years while among non-atrophic brain was 9.83 years. Number of cigarettes smoked per day showed statistically significant difference as it was 21.07 cigarettes among smokers with brain atrophy versus 13.83 cigarettes in non –brain atrophy smokers. Conclusions: Current brain imaging demonstrate that chronic tobacco smoking is associated with significant increase in prevalence of brain atrophy than non-smokers, smoking can be considered a risk factor for brain atrophy.