Many studies over the years have indicated that victims of child abuse experience long-term psychological problems.  Now, a review of 24 studies involving abused children suggests that child abuse can lead to physical illnesses later in life as well.

Dr. Bruce Perry, who is not associated with the study, had this to say about the link between abuse and physical ailments that present later in life:

"Life-threatening experiences like abuse will influence the neuroendocrine system, the immune system and the peripheral nervous system and that all impacts on the function and long-term health of a host of organs: the heart, lungs, gut, etc. Abusive experience recruits not just the brain, but the rest of body as well to adapt. When you have pervasive insults to a developing child, it's predictable that there would be problems in a variety of systems."

An article about the study is available here.