Social deprivation during childhood leaves people more susceptible to stroke and stomach cancer when they become adults, according to research published in the current British Medical Journal.
Dr George Davey Smith and colleagues studied 5,766 men aged 35-64 in the west of Scotland. While it was known that children from poorer families carry a health disadvantage into adulthood with related earlier mortality, some causes of death are more strongly linked to this disadvantage, they found.
Deaths from stroke and stomach cancer were particularly strongly linked to childhood deprivation, whereas deaths from accidents, violence and lung cancer were dependent on factors during adulthood.