Vitamin D Status May Affect Resilience and Recovery from Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Military Personnel

Experiencing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may lead to chronic postconcussive symptoms, increasing the risk for post?traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with cognitive decline, depression, and potentially PTSD through its relationship to testosterone production. Furthermore, vitamin D deficiency elevates systematic inflammation, meaning that poor vitamin D status at the time of blast may prolong inflammatory response to mTBI and exacerbate post?concussive symptoms. Since widespread vitamin D deficiency is observed across the U.S. population, poor vitamin D status is expected in service members. Given the high risk for mTBI in service members and suboptimal vitamin D levels observed in this population, treatment of vitamin D deficiency and elucidation of its mechanism in mTBI resilience and recovery merits exploration. Evidence in this review investigates possible protection of achieving optimal vitamin D levels for mTBI resiliency and recovery through its influence on inflammatory and hormonal biomarkers. Despite interest in using vitamin D as treatment for TBI, no human trials have tested the role of vitamin D in mTBI resiliency or recovery, nor have data been prospectively collected on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in service members. The neuroprotective effects of vitamin D warrant further investigation into the role of vitamin D in mTBI management.