OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of smoking on brain iron deposition. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 84 middle-aged and elderly people without obvious nervous system diseases and brain trauma were included in this study. Their smoking history was carefully evaluated. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed to obtain 3DT1 image and ESWAN image. R2* image was obtained by post-processing ESWAN sequence. Computer segmentation technology was used to segment 3DT1 image. After registration, R2* value of each brain area was extracted. The t test and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between R2* and smoking. RESULTS: Smoking was mainly associated with the increase of R2* in the hippocampus, white matter, and cortex (beta: 0.244, 0.317, and 0.277; p=0.026, 0.002, and 0.009, respectively). CONCLUSION: Smoking may be related to brain iron deposition. The main brain areas of iron deposition in- duced by smoking are hippocampus, white matter, and cortex. © Science Printers and Publishers, Inc.