Lesbian and gay students are more likely to be bullied, raped, assaulted or feel threatened than their straight peers, according to the first nationwide study to ask high school students about their sexuality.

The biennial Youth Risk Behaviour Survey also found that gay and lesbian students - who identified as around 1.3 million, or 8 per cent of students - were more likely to suffer depression.

“I found the numbers heartbreaking,” Dr Jonathan Mermin, a senior official at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told the New York Times.

The CDC includes a division that carried out the survey.

The surveyed teenagers were three times more likely to be raped. They were also twice as likely as heterosexual students to have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. As a result they missed school far more often.

Some 15,600 students aged between 14 and 17 answered the survey. Of those, 40 per cent said they had seriously considered suicide, while 29 per cent had already attempted to take their own life in the past year.

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Heroin use is more common among gay students. It was reported that 6 per cent have used heroin, compared to 1.3 per cent of heterosexual students.

The results echo previous smaller studies and research, but these findings will contribute to the first national databank.

The survey did not include a question on whether the student identified as transgender.