[Source: Medical X-Press]

Childhood adversity—circumstances that threaten a child’s physical or psychological well-being—has long been associated with poorer physical and mental health throughout life, such as greater risks of developing cardiac disease, cancer, or depression. It remains unclear, however, when and how the effects of childhood adversity become biologically embedded to influence health outcomes in children, adolescents, and adults.

A team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of Mass General Brigham (MGB), previously showed that exposure to adversity between ages three to five has a significant effect on the epigenome of children at age seven, altering biological processes that may be linked to deleterious long-term health outcomes.

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