Website: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/
Description: The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a
national system of health surveys that tracks
health-risk behaviors, clinical preventive practices,
and health care access and use, primarily related
to chronic diseases and injury. One of
the items in the BRFSS survey asks if the respondent
has ever served on active duty in the United
States Armed Forces. As such, the BRFSS
can provide information about veteran health
risks. With the support of the CDC, the
BRFSS is conducted annually by the 50 state health
departments as well as those in the District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin
Islands. BRFSS provides state-specific
information about issues such as asthma, diabetes,
health care access, alcohol use, hypertension,
obesity, cancer screening, nutrition and physical
activity, and tobacco use. BRFSS data is
also analyzed at the local level through the
Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk
Trends (SMART) project.
Access:
Survey data and documentation
for any BRFSS survey year can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/technical_infodata/surveydata.htm.
SMART survey data and
documentation can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/smart/technical_infodata.htm
All questions should be directed to a BRFSS state
coordinator. Their contact information can
be found at: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/BRFSSCoordinators/coordinator.asp.
Documentation:
The BRFSS
User's Guide, which covers all aspects of BRFSS
survey operations can be found in PDF format at: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Data/Brfss/userguide.pdf.
The questionnaires can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/questionnaires/questionnaires.htm
Information about BRFSS data quality, validity,
and reliability can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/pubs/quality.htm. Summary
Data Quality Reports (with selected statistical
indicators of data quality in BRFSS) can be found
at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/technical_infodata/quality.htm.
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