{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,13]],"date-time":"2026-11-13T01:34:29Z","timestamp":1794533669509,"version":"4.9.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,29]],"date-time":"2025-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759104000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder triggered by extreme traumatic events. It is characterized by impaired cognitive function and neuroendocrine dysfunction, particularly dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In recent years, the role of vitamin D in neuroprotection and cognitive function has garnered increasing interest; however, its relationship with hypothalamic\u2013pituitary\u2013adrenal (HPA) axis hormone levels in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains poorly understood.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study aimed to investigate the correlation between serum vitamin D levels and HPA axis hormones in patients with PTSD. A total of 96 patients with severe trauma admitted to Rizhao People\u2019s Hospital between March 2022 and December 2024 were enrolled and categorized into PTSD and non-PTSD groups according to diagnostic criteria. PTSD symptoms were evaluated using the PTSD Checklist\u2013Civilian Version. Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, corticotropin-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol were measured. Spearman\u2019s correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves were employed to assess associations between vitamin D, HPA axis biomarkers, and PCL-C Scores.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results showed that serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were significantly lower in the PTSD group compared to the non-PTSD group (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001), while CRH and ACTH levels were significantly higher, and cortisol levels were significantly lower (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis indicated that vitamin D levels were negatively correlated with CRH and ACTH levels and positively correlated with cortisol levels (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05). ROC curve analysis revealed that serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels have diagnostic potential for PTSD, with a cutoff value of 16.32 ng\/mL, an AUC of 0.698, sensitivity of 86.2%, and specificity of 51.1%.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study demonstrated a correlation between serum vitamin D levels and HPA axis hormone levels in patients with PTSD, suggesting that vitamin D deficiency may be associated with HPA axis dysregulation in PTSD. These findings underscore a potential link between vitamin D deficiency and PTSD, warranting further investigation into the role of vitamin D in the disorder\u2019s pathophysiology and its potential as a therapeutically modifiable factor.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2025.1622978","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,29]],"date-time":"2025-09-29T05:26:16Z","timestamp":1759123576000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Analysis of the correlation between serum vitamin D and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hormone levels in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Lei","family":"Ge","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weihua","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wencong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Panpan","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Ju","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2123","DOI":"10.1080\/1028415X.2021.1945859","article-title":"Randomized study of the effects of vitamin D and\/or magnesium supplementation on mood, serum levels of BDNF, inflammation, and SIRT1 in obese women with mild to moderate depressive symptoms.","volume":"25","author":"Abiri","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nutr. 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