The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the nation’s premier system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services. This prevalence data on Tobacco Use among adult U.S. residents are used to design programs that promote preventive health practices that can affect their health status.
Using the prevalence and trends data tools from BRFSS produces charts for individual states or the nation by health topic. In this dataset it shows the prevalence and trends in health care access and coverage for the US from 2011 to 2015.
**BRFSS Design: The BRFSS Questionnaire**
The questionnaire has three parts:
1. Core component: A standard set of questions asked by all states. It includes queries about current health-related perceptions, conditions, and behaviors (e.g., health status, health care access, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, disability, and HIV/AIDS risks), as well as demographic questions.
2. Optional CDC modules: Sets of questions on specific topics (such as excess sun exposure, cancer survivorship, mental illness, and stigma) that states elect to use on their questionnaires. In 2012, 27 optional modules were supported by CDC. The module questions are generally submitted by CDC programs and have been selected for inclusion in the editing and evaluation process by CDC.
3. State-added questions: These are questions developed or acquired by participating states and are added to their questionnaires. State-added questions are not edited or evaluated by CDC.
**Sample Description**
In the sample design, each state begins with a single stratum. To provide adequate sample sizes for smaller geographically defined populations of interest, however, many states sample disproportionately from strata defined to correspond to sub-state regions. In 2012, the 48 states or territories with disproportionately sampled geographic strata were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, and Wisconsin.
**Data Processing**
CDC begins to process data for the survey year as soon as states or their contractors begin submitting data to the data management mailbox; CDC continues processing data throughout the survey year. CDC receives and tracks monthly data submissions from the states. Once data are received from the state, editing programs and cumulative data quality checks are run against the data.
