Health Behaviors
Many of the top causes for death and disease can be connected to unhealthy behaviors. In this dashboard we have divided health behavior data into two main groups: preventative and risk.
For questions about this data, send email to brfss@dshs.texas.gov
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Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance SystemData Description
The Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), initiated in 1987, is a federally supported landline and cellular telephone survey that collects data about Texas residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services. This surveillance can be used to monitor the Healthy People 2030 Objectives for current smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, exercise and physical activity, flu and pneumonia vaccinations, cholesterol and cancer screenings, seat belt use, as well as other risk factors.
Measure Information
In 2011, BRFSS began including data received from cell phone users and using a new data weighting methodology called raking or iterative proportional fitting. These changes allowed BRFSS to reach segments of the population that were previously inaccessible-those who have a cell phone but not a landline-and produce estimates of risk factors and diseases that are more representative of the population. Therefore, data collected in 2011 and beyond cannot be directly compared to data collected before 2011. In the dashboards above, these years are separated into two dashboards to avoid such comparisons.
Percentages and confidence intervals are not displayed for sample sizes of less than 50 or for responses with a relative standard error (RSE) of over 30%. Estimates with a high RSE can be unreliable and should be used with caution.
Vaping and E-cigarette, or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) Use is a calculated variable based on two questions; "Yes" if the respondent replies "Yes" to the question "Have you ever used an e-cigarette or other electronic vaping product, even just one time, in your entire life?" and "No" if the respondent replies "No" to this question. The ENDS item also displays a percent who answered "yes" if respondent replies "Every day", "Some days", or "Not at all" to the question "Do you now use e-cigarettes or other electronic vaping products every day, some days, or not at all?" and "No" if respondent replies "Never smoke e-cigs" to this question.