ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2024
Midlife health in Britain and the United States: a comparison of two nationally representative cohorts.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Demographic and biosocial determinants of beneficial trends in older adult cognition in the USA and England: the role of cohort succession.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Understanding Liver and Digestive Diseases: A Paved Road to Improve Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment.Exploration of digestive diseases · 2026Article
- Temporal trends in the incidence of adverse effects of medical treatment in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2021: an age-period cohort analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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Abstract
backgroundOlder adults in the USA have worse health and wider socioeconomic inequalities in health compared with those in Britain. Less is known about how health in the two countries compares in mid-life, a time of emerging health decline, including inequalities in health.
methodsWe compare measures of current regular smoking status, obesity, self-rated health, cholesterol, blood pressure and glycated haemoglobin using population-weighted modified Poisson regression in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) in Britain (N = 9665) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) in the USA (N = 12 300), when cohort members were aged 34-46 and 33-43, respectively. We test whether associations vary by early- and mid-life socioeconomic position.
resultsUS adults had higher levels of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Prevalence of poor self-rated health and current regular smoking was worse in Britain. We found smaller socioeconomic inequalities in mid-life health in Britain compared with the USA. For some outcomes (e.g. smoking), the most socioeconomically advantaged group in the USA was healthier than the equivalent group in Britain. For other outcomes (hypertension and cholesterol), the most advantaged US group fared equal to or worse than the most disadvantaged groups in Britain.
conclusionsUS adults have worse cardiometabolic health than British counterparts, even in early mid-life. The smaller socioeconomic inequalities and better overall health in Britain may reflect differences in access to health care, welfare systems or other environmental risk factors.
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