Only non-Hispanic whites were included in the study to eliminate the
influence of racial disparities. The researchers looked only at people ages 55
through 64, and the average age of the samples was the same.
Americans reported twice the rate of diabetes compared to the English, 12.5
percent versus 6 percent. For high blood pressure, it was 42 percent for
Americans versus 34 percent for the English; cancer showed up in 9.5 percent of
Americans compared to 5.5 percent of the English.
The upper crust in both countries was healthier than middle-class and
low-income people in the same country. But richer Americans' health status
resembled the health of the low-income English.
"It's something of a mystery," said Richard Suzman of the U.S. National
Institutes of Health, which helped fund the study.
Health experts have known the U.S. population is less healthy than that of
other industrialized nations, according to several important measurements,
including life expectancy. The U.S. ranks behind about two dozen other
countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Some have believed the United States has lagged because it is more ethnically
diverse, said Suzman, who heads the National Institute on Aging's Behavioral and
Social Research Program. "Minority health in general is worse than white
health," he said.
But the new study showed that when minorities are removed from the equation,
and adjustments are made to control for education and income, white people in
England are still healthier than white people in the United States.
"As far as I know, this is the first study showing this," said Suzman. The
study, supported by grants from government agencies in both countries, was
published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Other studies have measured the United States against other countries in
terms of health care spending, use of medical care and availability of health
care services. But this is the first to focus on prevalence of chronic
conditions, said Anderson, the Johns Hopkins professor.