1 in 5 U.S. women was sexually assaulted

About one U.S. women in five has been raped or subjected to attempted rape, increasing the chance of having serious health problems, a U.S. health survey found. The 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of 16,507 adults -- 9,086 women and 7,421 men -- found sexual violence affected women disproportionately, with one-third of women saying they had been victims of a rape, beating or stalking, or a combination of assaults. One in six said they had been stalked. Twelve percent of female rape victims said they were assaulted when they were 10 or younger, while almost half said they were raped before they turned 18. About 80 percent said they had been raped before age 25. Thirty-five percent of women raped as minors were also raped as adults, the survey found. The researchers defined rape as completed forced penetration, forced penetration facilitated by drugs or alcohol, or attempted forced penetration. By that definition, 1.3 million U.S. women may be victims of rape or attempted rape in a year, The New York Times said. One in seven men reported experiencing severe violence at the hands of an intimate partner, the survey indicated. It found one in 71 men -- between 1 percent and 2 percent -- said they were raped at some point, many when they were younger than 11. Linda C. Degutis, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the survey, told the Times the survey results "will be surprising to a lot of people." "I don't think we've really known that it was this prevalent in the population," she said. Women and men -- women in particular -- said they experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after being subjected to sexual violence, rape or stalking. More female than male victims reported having illnesses subsequent to the attack, including asthma and diabetes, and both female and male victims were more likely to complain of such problems as chronic pain and generally poor health -- physical and mental. Lisa James, director of health for Futures Without Violence -- a non-profit based in San Francisco that advocates "to prevent and end violence against women and children around the world" -- told the Times the U.S. study finding on chronic health conditions" had been observed "in smaller studies before." "People who grow up with violence adopt coping strategies that can lead to poor health outcomes," she said.