Does TBI Increase Susceptibility to Diabetes and Can This Be Prevented by Glucocorticoid Blockade

Blast-related mild traumatic brain injury mTBI is widespread amongst service members and veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. TBI has many long term adverse health consequences as summarized in a recent report by the Institute of Medicine1. However, it remains unclear if TBI increases the susceptibility to diabetes one of the FY17 PRMRP Topic Areas and other metabolic diseases. Given the tremendous impact that diabetes and metabolic diseases have on the quality of life and morbidity by fueling cardiovascular disease, cancer, impaired cognition and reducing life expectancy, it is important to establish if mTBI can indeed cause metabolic disease and if so, through which mechanisms. The biggest impact of these studies to be in the realization that TBI through brain damage impairs metabolic control and increases the risk for type 2 diabetes. Secondly, they give hope to those that may suffer from metabolic disease and have TBI as we have begun to identify drugs that seem to be promising in treating TBI induced metabolic disease.