Found a really great article from gladwell.com: U.S. versus U.K.:
“The first conclusion is that Americans are really, really sick compared to the British. In every socio-economic group, for instance, the prevalence of diabetes is roughly double in the United States than it is in the United Kingdom. Rates of hypertension, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, lung disease and cancer are also all higher in the United States. And not just a little big higher. Much higher. So, for example, 2.3 percent of the English have had a stroke, versus 3.8 percent of the Americans.”
It appears that this study appears to have better controls on self reporting and the greater diversity of the US than previous studies did. ‘Least that’s what I gleaned from the comments. This comment about different work practices between the UK and the US rang particularly true for me.