Colorado Can Cut Diseases By Trimming Childhood Poverty, Group Argues

DENVER (CBS4) - Childhood poverty and severe stress may cause disease later in life, experts said at a Colorado Children's Campaign luncheon on Tuesday.

In Colorado, the number of children living in poverty has grown at a rate faster than almost anywhere else in the country. It's up 115 percent since 2000. In 2012, one in five kids in Colorado lived below the poverty line.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente found that children who experience stress like abuse or neglect over a long period of time have a toxic reaction. It's a major risk factor in seven of the 10 leading causes of death in adults.

"The reason for that is that when we activate the stress response, when traumatic event happens and it activates your cortisol and your adrenalin and all these different stress hormones, it also activates your immune system. So increases likelihood of disease of inflammation," Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, of the Center for Youth Wellness and an expert on toxic stress, said.

She told attendees at the Children's Campaign luncheon that pediatricians, educators and childcare workers need to start screening for toxic stress in kids and intervene early to prevent long-term health consequences.