OBJECTIVES: To summarize the information on conditions related to child poverty and its negative outcomes in terms of health in order to build a proper notion of the scars child poverty leaves in adults from a health perspective. METHODS: A literature review was carried out by using the Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) methodology. The search was performed in MEDLINE (PubMed) and Embase electronic databases and April 2018 was the date limit. Search strategies focused on finding the association between the manifestation of any disease in adults and its association with a scar caused by child poverty. A basic theoretical framework for analyzing the information was used. RESULTS: After eliminating duplicate results, 180 articles were found, 39 studies were related to child poverty scars in adults. Despite the fact these articles did not provide specific information on the diseases related to poverty, a possible way to determine a correlation between factors that make a poor child to develop a future disease was observed. Metabolic and psychiatric diseases in adults exposed to child poverty had a higher frequency. Also, the studies described an association between unhealthy eating habits, violence, use of psychoactive substances, and lack of hygiene in childhood and the development of diseases in adult age. However, it was not possible to identify the specific mechanisms by which said diseases appear. In addition, it was found that in places where an early intervention and medical assistance were applied better outcomes were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to child poverty conditions leaves scars that have a health negative impact when becoming an adult, which translates into a gap in personal development in comparison with individuals unexposed to these conditions. These scars are associated to the family environment, nutrition conditions, the general environment and the lack of access to public services.