Report Released on Chronic Diseases and Related Risk Factors

In September, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2021 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which are now available through CDC’s easy-to-use web-based tool. Data topics include health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, healthcare access and use of preventive services. Topics include alcohol use, tobacco use, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental and physical health, healthy days, depression, diabetes, arthritis, HIV testing, immunizations, obesity and overweight, asthma and physical activity or exercise.

According to CDC, the tool allows users to understand important health issues in their states and make state and national comparisons quickly and easily. It also offers various ways to display survey results from more than 438,000 residents of the United States and U.S. territories.

Per the CDC’s website, “BRFSS provides a sound basis for understanding health issues in states, assessing and maintaining public health programs, and making progress on improving health and reducing health disparities. The prevalence and trends tool offers fast access to a large portion of the 2021 data set and can be a helpful resource to reporters, students, public health officials and decision-makers.” The tool is updated every year and can be accessed at www.cdc.gov/brfss/brfssprevalence