Children who experience high levels of stress could be at risk of serious illnesses later on in life, according to a new study. Research has suggested that increased levels of stress in youth could result in heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.It is already well documented that stress can cause or contribute to a number of health issues. Previous research has found that it is a factor in around 60 per cent of human illnesses and diseases, according to the American Institute of Stress.However, it has now been found that stress when younger could impact health later in life. Researchers, led by Ashley Winning from the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in Boston, US, looked at data from almost 7,000 people that was collected as part of a 1958 British Birth Cohort Study.Each of the participants was born in the same week and were followed up for 45 years. Data included information concerning each participant's stress levels and mental health, which was collected at the ages of seven, 11, 16, 23, 33 and 42.It was found that those who experienced high stress levels during childhood and adulthood had higher cardiometabolic risk scores when compared to those who experienced low stress levels. Those who had high stress levels throughout childhood and right up to middle age were found to have higher cardiometabolic risk than is associated with childhood obesity.After adjusting the results for a number of factors that might affect cardiometabolic risk, such as socioeconomic status, health behaviours etc, it was found that the risk was no different for those with high stress levels during adulthood compared to those who experienced low stress levels throughout their lives.However, it was found that those with high stress throughout childhood and continued stress from childhood into adulthood still had higher cardiometabolic risk scores than those with low lifetime stress levels even after accounting for possible influencing factors.This suggests that stress early in life causes physical changes that increase the risk of serious illness later on in life, even if stress levels are reduced later on.