There's a health threat to kids that contributes to seven of the 10 leading causes of death and in high doses, dramatically increases the risk of heart disease, cancers, substance abuse, suicide and obesity.
It's one that many doctors still pay little attention to, despite being treatable and often largely preventable.
The threat: exposure to trauma as a child. If, for example, you witnessed violence, didn't have enough to eat, your parent abused drugs or alcohol, or you felt unsafe, this trauma can interfere with normal brain development, disrupt hormonal and immune systems and cut life expectancy.
Film producer Karen Pritzker remembers where she was when she first heard someone describe the research on these adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, and their connection to health in adulthood. It was at a community meeting in New Haven, Connecticut, not long after the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary school plunged the entire nation into shock and mourning.
[For more of this story, written by Brie Zeltner, go to http://www.cleveland.com/healt...d_film_festival.html]
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