Cerebral atrophy can be caused by a variety of diseases, such as genetic inheritance, traumatic brain injury, sequelae of poisoning, cerebral infarction, cerebral small vessel disease, encephalitis meningitis, cerebrovascular malformation, brain tumour, long-term seizures, excessive smoking and drinking, thyroid function lesions, cerebral arteriosclerosis, gas poisoning, alcoholism, etc. causing destruction of brain parenchyma and atrophy of nerve cells, of which the most important causative factor is caused by long-term chronic ischemia of cerebral blood vessels.
Clinically, hypertension, dyslipidemia and cerebral arteriosclerosis are important risk factors for senile brain atrophy.