Britons aged 30 to 40 are healthier than their American counterparts, but are more likely to believe they are in poorer health, a new study suggests.
Rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are lower in the UK for the age group, but daily smoking is higher, according to research.
Despite this, UK adults are generally more pessimistic about their health compared to those across the pond.
Experts said the wider health inequalities in the US should “act as a warning” about what Britain could be like without the “safety net” of the NHS.
Researchers from University College London (UCL), the University of Oxford, Syracuse University and the University of North Carolina analyzed data from 9,665 British people born in 1970 and 5,381 American adults.
Rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are lower in the UK for the age group, but daily smoking is higher, according to research.
Experts said the wider health inequalities in the US should “act as a warning” about what Britain could be like without the “safety net” of the NHS.
Rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are lower in the UK for the age group, but daily smoking is higher, according to research.
The nurses measured blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI and whether blood sugar levels indicated diabetes.
Study participants reported how good they thought their health was and how regularly they smoked cigarettes.
It found that Americans were more likely to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and four in 10 American adults were obese compared to 34.5 percent of Britons.
However, 18 percent of British adults are likely to report their health as poor compared to 12 percent of adults in the US, according to findings published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Britons were also more likely to smoke every day: 28 percent in this age group reported cigarette smoking compared to 21 percent in the American group.
Lead author Dr Charis Bridger Staatz, from the UCL Center for Longitudinal Studies, said: “Although we were not able to directly investigate the causes of this, we can speculate that differences in exercise levels, diets and poverty, and limited access to free educational health care may be leading to poorer physical health in the US.’
American adults were more likely to have high blood pressure (22.5 vs. 19 percent in the United Kingdom) and high cholesterol (11 vs. 8 percent).
He added: “Given the political and social similarities between the United States and Britain, the United States acts as a warning of what the state of health in Britain could be like without the safety net of the NHS and a strong welfare system.”
They found that American adults were more likely to have high blood pressure (22.5 vs. 19 percent in the United Kingdom) and high cholesterol (11 vs. 8 percent).
Health inequalities were also greater in the US: Disadvantaged adults were about eight times more likely to have diabetes than the wealthiest and were seven times more likely to smoke.
In Britain, the poorest adults were twice as likely to have diabetes and smoke. Wider disparities were also found in the United States in obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Professor George Ploubidis, of UCL, said: “In some ways, these findings could be seen as painting a positive picture for the nation, with adult health in Britain being better than in the United States.”
‘However, this research should not distract us from the fact that more than a third of British adults are obese and a fifth have high blood pressure in middle age.
“The new government’s promises to reduce NHS waiting times will be seriously tested if this and future generations continue to age in poor health.”