Negative experiences in childhood may alter physical health into middle age and beyond

Research from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has found that trauma experienced in childhood may have an impact on physical health in adult life.

The study followed a thousand individuals from birth to age 32. The findings suggest ‘that childhood experiences can affect nervous, immune and endocrine functioning, which agrees with earlier findings in animal experiments.’

By age 32, ‘adults who had been maltreated as children were twice as likely to suffer major depression and chronic inflammation. Children who grew up poor or socially isolated were twice as likely to show metabolic risk markers at age 32.’

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