Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Overview
The Ohio Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is housed within the Chronic and Environmental Disease Surveillance Section; Bureau of Health Surveillance, Information and Operational Support; Division of Prevention at the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Since 1984, ODH has entered into a yearly cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop and implement the BRFSS survey in Ohio. Currently, Ohio is one of 50 states working with CDC to obtain data regarding the prevalence of selected behaviors among adults, i.e. persons age 18 years and older that increase the risk of certain diseases and injuries.
The purpose of the Ohio BRFSS is to monitor the behaviors associated with the major causes of preventable morbidity and mortality in adult Ohio, e.g. heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and injuries. Data resulting from the survey are available to state and local level decision-makers. BRFSS information can serve as an aid in determining the focus of health promotion/risk reduction initiatives for Ohioans. BRFSS prevalence data should be used for planning purposes in combination with other measures such as mortality, morbidity, economic costs, preventability, potential years of life lost, resource availability, and effectiveness of interventions.
Ohio BRFSS Mission Statement: “To provide high quality data, and analyses, to identify high-risk populations for health behaviors that increase the risk of diseases, adverse physical conditions, and injuries, and to support the evaluation of interventions concerned with the prevention of disease, adverse physical conditions, and injuries in Ohio.”
Services
The Ohio BRFSS uses telephone surveys to collect data. Adults aged 18 years or older who live in households having a telephone are randomly selected for an interview. The survey is conducted in the State of Ohio during a three-week period each month; calls are made six days a week during both daytime and the evening. Ohio currently completes about 270 interviews each month.
The Ohio BRFSS questionnaire consists of three parts: a core, standard modules, and state-added questions. The core questions continue to evolve over time, including health status, health care access, awareness of selected medical conditions (hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol), injury control, tobacco and alcohol use, women’s health issues and the use of certain preventive health measures, awareness and attitudes concerning HIV/AIDS and prevalence of testing for HIV infection. Moreover, respondents were asked to provide demographic information such as age, sex, race, marital status, household income, employment status and educational level. The standard modules are sets of questions on selected topics, such as weight control, quality of life, participation in leisure time and physical activities, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and the use of smokeless tobacco. The specific questions for the core and the standard modules are jointly created by the state of Ohio and CDC. Ohio BRFSS also adds about 10 questions each year in different areas, e.g. violence prevention, smoking policies, etc.
In 1997, the Ohio BRFSS sample size was 3166, including more than 400 people each from Franklin, Hamilton, Cuyahoga and 29 Appalachian counties to represent diverse populations. Selected results of 1997 Ohio BRFSS are presented on the poster. Further information is available upon request.
Mailing Address:
Ohio Department of Health
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Section
246 North High Street
P.O. Box 118
Columbus, OH 43216-0118
Telephone: (614) 728-9180
Fax: (614) 644-1909
E-mail: Surveillance@odh.ohio.gov
Last Updated: 5/17/00
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