Study reveals worse midlife health among US adults compared to British counterparts
American adults in midlife experience significantly poorer health compared to their British counterparts, especially in terms of cardiovascular health markers, according to a comprehensive new study. The research, involving scholars from Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The study meticulously examined various health indicators such as smoking habits, weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure among adults aged 33 to 46 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The findings highlighted that American adults generally face poorer cardiovascular health and higher rates of obesity than their British peers. Moreover, the study found that disparities in health outcomes by socioeconomic status are more pronounced in the United States. For several health conditions, including hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity, even the most socioeconomically advantaged individuals in the US displayed health outcomes that were on par with or worse than those seen among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in Britain. In contrast, British adults, despite showing better physical health metrics overall, reported lower subjective assessments of their health and were more likely to smoke.
Professor Jennifer Dowd, a co-author of the study and Deputy Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Oxford Population Health’s Demographic Science Unit, remarked, “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 research, a collaborative effort among scholars at University College London’s (UCL) Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Syracuse University, and the University of North Carolina, drew upon data from two key sources: the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Add Health study in the United States. The analysis included data from nearly 10,000 British people born in 1970 and 5,000 American adults born between 1976 and 1983. Researchers measured participants’ blood pressure, cholesterol levels, Body Mass Index (BMI), and glucose levels, while also gathering self-reported information on smoking habits and overall health assessments.
Dr Charis Bridger Staatz, the study’s lead author from UCL’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies, noted, “Our new research shows that although British adults are more likely to believe that their health is poor, they tend to have better cardiovascular health than their US counterparts in midlife. While we were unable to directly investigate the causes of this, we can speculate that differences in levels of exercise, diets, and poverty, and limited access to free healthcare may be driving worse physical health in the USA. Given political and social similarities between the US and Britain, the US acts as a warning of what the state of health could be like in Britain without the safety net of the NHS and a strong welfare system.”
Dr Andrea Tilstra, another co-author and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Demographic Science Unit, added, “The unique combination of high inequality and a weak welfare state in the US may prove harmful for all groups throughout the life course. Even for the more advantaged in the US, the associated costs of healthcare are still substantial. Our paper highlights the opportunity to better understand the factors influencing health in both populations by comparing similarities and differences in policies and other environmental contexts.”
The full article, titled ‘Midlife Health in Britain and the United States: A Comparison of Two Nationally Representative Cohorts,’ is available in the International Journal of Epidemiology.