Children that grow up in a family with at least one member who has been to prison have increased risk of health issues in adulthood, a new report by the Brown University suggests.

Researchers also looked into other forms of childhood adversity. They explained that the high rate of imprisonment in the United States might alone be passing on enduring physical and mental health difficulties in some families.

The observations of the study were derived after examining data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey that involved more than 81,000 adults. The information was from 2009 to 2010 when 12 states and the District of Columbia collected data on mental and physical health and childhood difficulty, which included question about initial 18 years of life, "Did you live with anyone who served time or was sentenced to serve time in a prison, jail or other correctional facility?"

The 12 states were Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Washington in 2009 and Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin in 2010.

"These people were children when this happened, and it was a significant disruptive event," Annie Gjelsvik, assistant professor of epidemiology in the Brown University School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said in a press release. "That disruptive event has long-term adverse consequences."

Researchers found that 4.5 percent or 3,717 people said they grew with a jailed family member. The research team then used statistical analysis techniques to calculate the participant's risk of suffering from poor health quality. Factors such as age, education, income, and number of other adverse childhood experiences, which included but were not limited to emotional, physical and sexual abuse, were taken into account.

The analysis showed that people who grew up with an imprisoned family member had an 18 percent higher chance of poor health during adulthood.

The study was published in the Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved.