The findings of a new study suggest that childhood adversity is a major contributor to early and preventable causes of mortality and a powerful determinant of long term physical and mental health.  Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Harvard University found that childhood adversity is associated with elevated risk for chronic disease including heart disease and cancer. Until now the degree to which childhood adversity contributed to mortality as a preventable driver of ill-health and death was unknown. The findings are published in JAMA Pediatrics.