BRFSS is a state-based telephone survey which is performed in all 50 states,
the District of Columbia, and three territories. Begun in 1984 by the CDC,
today BRFSS is the world's largest on-going telephone survey. The BRFSS measures health behaviors,
which have been shown to be a major contributor to disease, injury and premature death.
The BRFSS plays a key role in targeting resources for the prevention and reduction of poor
health behaviors and their related illnesses. The Oklahoma State Department of Health joined
the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in March 1988.
This user-friendly data query system allows public health practitioners
and researchers, as well as the general public, to generate standard or
customized tables without delay. It provides statewide, regional and some county
level estimates of health behaviors. Access to BRFSS data (available since 1988)
can be broken down by various demographics, including age, gender, race and ethnicity,
education, annual household income levels and marital status.
The BRFSS survey is administered to a small random sample of the Oklahoma adult population. These data are then weighted to produce estimates of the Oklahoma adult population. Frequencies, percentages, weighted frequencies, combined years of information, and confidence intervals can be generated.