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The study compared health measures such as smoking habits, weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure among US and British adults aged 33 to 46. It found that US adults have worse cardiovascular health and higher levels of obesity than their British counterparts, along with greater disparities in health by socioeconomic factors. For several outcomes, including hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity, even the most socioeconomically advantaged groups in the US had similar or worse health than the most disadvantaged groups in Britain. On the other hand, British adults rated their overall health worse on average and were more likely to smoke.
Co-author Professor Jennifer Dowd, Deputy Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Oxford Population Health’s Demographic Science Unit said, ‘Despite the worse health of American compared to British adults in midlife, higher rates of smoking and growing obesity levels in Britain show that there is room for improvement in both countries. Worsening health trends in the US could serve as a warning for Britain and the need to focus on prevention and the broad social determinants of health.’
The study, co-authored by researchers at University College London’s (UCL) Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Syracuse University and University of North Carolina, compared data from the 1970 British Cohort Study in Britain and the Add Health study in the US. The analysis included data from almost 10,000 British people born in 1970 and 5,000 American adults born between 1976 to 1983. Participant’s blood pressure, cholesterol levels, Body Mass Index (BMI) and glucose were measured, and they also self-reported their smoking habits and quality of health.