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Adults who have experienced abuse or neglect as children could be prone to lifelong ill-health by making them more vulnerable to obesity, inflammation and trauma.

According to new research, experiencing abusive behaviour or emotional and physical neglect was found to make children more likely to become obese and experience more trauma as adults, both of which then become the cause for dysfunction in the immune system, such as inflammation.

Through studying brain scans of adults, researchers showed notable changes in the brain structure, such as increased thickness and reduced volume, which is associated with obesity, inflammation and repeated trauma stemming from ill-treatment during childhood.

The researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, said these structural changes suggested physical damage inflicted on the brain cells that affected their functioning.

Their research said that while it was known that children experiencing abuse are more likely to develop mental illness throughout their lives, it was not well understood why the risk remained many decades after ill-treatment first took place.

The study findings shed light on how adverse childhood events can contribute to a life-long increased risk of brain and mental health disorders.

"Now that we have a better understanding of why childhood maltreatment has long-term effects, we can potentially look for biomarkers - biological red flags - that indicate whether an individual is at increased risk of continuing problems.

"This could help us target early on those who need the most help and hopefully aid them in breaking this chain of ill health," said Edward Bullmore, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of more than 21,000 adults aged 40-70. They analysed this data from the UK Biobank along with their body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein levels (which reveal signs of inflammation), and experiences of childhood ill-treatment and adult trauma.