People who smoke or have diabetes may be at a greater risk of calcifications in a region of the crucial brain for memory, according to a new study whose conclusions are detailed in an article published in the digital edition of Radiology magazine.
Dementia is an important public health problem that affects dozens of millions of people worldwide.One of the foci of his research has been the hippocampus, an important brain structure for the storage of memories both in the short and long term.Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia, is associated with hippocampus atrophy.
Researchers have raised the hypothesis that abnormal accumulations of calcium or calcifications in the hippocampus may be related to vascular problems that could contribute to the atrophy of the hippocampus and the subsequent cognitive deterioration.However, the published research on the association between the calcification of the hippocampus and the cognitive impairment is limited.
"We know that the calcifications in the hippocampus are common, especially as age increases," says the main author of the study, Esther J.M.De Brouwer, Geriatrica at the University Center of the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands."However, we did not know if the calcifications in the hippocampus were related to cognitive function," he adds.
The development of computerized tomographies, key in research
Advances in images have provided opportunities to explore the role of hippocampus calcifications in dementia.The development of computerized cerebral tomographies has allowed the better to distinguish between the calcifications of the hippocampus and the calcifications in the nearby brain structures, such as the choroid plexus.
"A multiplican computerized tomography allows the hippocampus to be seen in different anatomical planes, for example, from top to bottom, from right to left and from frontThey were confused with the calcifications of the Coroideo plexus.
Bruwer and his team studied the association between vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, and hippocampus calcifications.The team also evaluated the effects of calcifications on cognitive function.
Advanced age, diabetes and smoking raise the risk of calcifications
The study group included 1,991 patients, with an average age of 78 years, who had visited a memory clinic in a Dutch hospital between 2009 and 2015. Patients had been made to patients a standard diagnostic study that included cognitive tests and tomographiesCerebral computerized.The researchers analyzed the computerized tomographs to determine the presence and severity of hippocampus calcifications.
Of the 1,991 patients, 380 -19.1 percent -presented hippocampus calcifications.Advanced age, diabetes and smoking were linked with a higher risk of hippocampus calcifications in computerized tomographs.
Although the study was not designed to conclude if smoking and diabetes increase the risk of hippocampus calcifications, the results suggest a link consistently.
"We believe that smoking and diabetes are risk factors," Bruwer says. "cardiovascular diseaseTherefore, smoking and diabetes are likely to be risk factors for hippocampus calcifications. "
However, they did not find a link between the presence and severity of hippocampus calcifications and cognitive function;A surprising finding - according to Brouwer - with several possible explanations."The hippocampus consists of different layers, and it is possible that the calcifications do not damage the structure of the hippocampus that is important for the storage of the memory -he affirms -another explanation could be the selection of the participants of our study, all fromA memory clinic ".