Dr. Andrea Danese, from King's College, University of London, summarizes the evidence suggesting that adverse childhood experiences are associated with elevated inflammation levels in young people and adults. Because inflammation is an important mechanism involved in the development of medical and psychiatric disorders, stress-related elevation in inflammation levels may explain how exposure to adverse psychosocial experiences in childhood could be translated in biological risk for disease. Dr. Danese discusses relevant research carried out in collaboration with the two cohort studies, the New Zealand Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and the British Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study.