BACKGROUND Older 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. METHODS We 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. RESULTS US 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. CONCLUSIONS US 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.

中文翻译：

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英国和美国的中年健康：两个具有全国代表性的队列的比较。


背景 与英国相比，美国老年人的健康状况更差，而且在健康方面存在更广泛的社会经济不平等。关于两国中年健康状况的比较，人们知之甚少，中年时期的健康状况正在恶化，包括健康不平等。方法 我们使用 1970 年英国队列研究 （BCS70） 中的人群加权改良泊松回归 （N = 9665） 和美国全国青少年到成人健康纵向研究 （N = 12 300） 中比较当前常规吸烟状况、肥胖、自评健康状况、胆固醇、血压和糖化血红蛋白的测量方法，当时队列成员年龄在 34-46 岁和 33-43 岁之间， 分别。我们检验关联是否因早期和中期的社会经济地位而异。结果 美国成年人的肥胖、高血压和高胆固醇水平较高。在英国，自评健康状况不佳和目前经常吸烟的患病率更糟。我们发现，与美国相比，英国中年健康状况的社会经济不平等较小。对于某些结局（例如吸烟），美国最具社会经济优势的群体比英国的同等群体更健康。对于其他结局 （高血压和胆固醇），最有利的美国群体的表现等于或差于英国最弱势群体。结论 美国成年人的心脏代谢健康状况比英国成年人差，即使在中年早期也是如此。英国较小的社会经济不平等和更好的整体健康状况可能反映了获得医疗保健、福利系统或其他环境风险因素的差异。