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What are the best ways to measure the impact of arthritis?
In addition to prevalence and cost (discussed in the cost analysis FAQ section) there are several ways to measure the impact of arthritis in a state.
The impact of arthritis can also be measured using national-level health care data to examine
the impact of arthritis on hospitals,
ambulatory care, and mortality. CDC does not recommend exploring hospital
discharge, ambulatory care, or mortality data at the state level unless there is
direct program relevance.
Can the BRFSS be used to measure effectiveness of state arthritis program interventions?
Unlikely at present. BRFSS estimates provide useful statewide baseline data. State and partner interventions for arthritis now reach only a small proportion of the population in the state. For example, if BRFSS samples 2,000–3,000 people in a state, typically 21% of them will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis (500 to 700 people). The likelihood that your intervention reached any one of them or that they took an arthritis self help course will be small. When your program has grown very large and reaches many people with arthritis in the state, BRFSS may be able to help measure reach.
If you conducted a targeted intervention in a geographically defined area
(e.g., city or county), and you collected a sufficient sample size of
respondents in that area, you might be able to use the BRFSS or a telephone
survey to evaluate the effort. For example, if you’re doing a health
communications campaign, you might be able to use the BRFSS or a telephone
survey to measure impact by working with your state BRFSS coordinator to
target and over sample that particular area. The CDC Arthritis Epidemiology
staff would be happy to consult with states interested in doing this.
Can BRFSS sub-state-level data be obtained?
The BRFSS produces estimates for large metropolitan/micropolitan statistical areas (MMSAs) with at least 500 respondents, although some of these cross state lines. These are from the SMART (Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends) project (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss-smart/index.asp, click on Local Area Health Risk data). Limited data for arthritis in these MMSA areas can be found using the category "arthritis". For non-MMSA areas, it would take at least 2 or 3 years of pooled BRFSS data to get a sufficient sample size to produce regional estimates. BRFSS recommends not making estimates for areas with fewer than 50 respondents.
The BRFSS web site can produce a map of state and local arthritis prevalence at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/gisbrfss/default.aspx.
Page last reviewed: June 8, 2008
Page last modified: September 9, 2008
Content Source: Division of
Adult and Community Health,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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