Early sex abuse increases heart risks? Women who were repeatedly sexually abused as girls have a 62 percent higher risk of heart problems later in life compared with women who were not abused, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.abused girls heart risks. The findings, presented at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, underscored the lasting physical effects of early sexual abuse. Much of the increased risk was related to coping strategies among abuse survivors such as overeating, alcohol use and smoking. "The single biggest factor explaining the link between severe child abuse and adult cardiovascular disease was the tendency of abused girls to have gained more weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood," Janet Rich-Edwards of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study, said in a statement. The team analyzed data from a study of more than 67,000 nurses. Nine percent of these women had reported severe physical abuse and 11 percent ...