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- BEHAVORIAL RISK FACTOR SURVEILLANCE
- SELECTED STATES, 1987
-
- Results from the 1987 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- (BRFSS) indicated substantial variations in risk behaviors
- associated with cardiovascular disease, in drinking and driving
- behaviors, and in the use of recommended preventive health
- services among 32 states and the District of Columbia.
-
- Health departments participating in the BRFSS use standard
- questionnaires and methods to conduct monthly random digit-dialed
- telephone interviews of adults 18 years of age and older. The
- results are representative of the adult population of each
- participating state.
-
- The prevalence of three risk factors related to cardiovascular
- disease - being overweight, smoking, and having a sedentary
- lifestyle - varied widely by state. The prevalence of cigarette
- smoking ranged from 15.0% in Utah to 32.3% in Kentucky (median =
- 25.2%), and that of sedentary lifestyle ranged from 47.2% in
- Montana to 73.5% in New York (median = 59.0%).
-
- Risk factors related to drinking and driving accounted for the
- greatest variation by state. Binge drinking varied more than
- fourfold, from 6.6% in New Mexico to 29.4% in Wisconsin (median =
- 15.3%); heavier drinking, from 3.7% in West Virginia to 10.3% in
- New Hampshire (median = 5.6%); and drinking and driving, from
- 1.3% in Kentucky to 8.3% in Wisconsin (median = 3.3%). The nonuse
- of seatbelts varied most (tenfold) from 7.0% in Hawaii to 72.2%
- in South Dakota (median = 42.1%).
-
- In 1987 data on the use of two preventive health services -
- cholesterol screening and mammography - were collected in the
- BRFSS for the first time. The proportion of respondents who had
- ever had their cholesterol level determined varied nearly
- twofold, from 29.3% in New Mexico to 56.8% in Maryland (median =
- 46.6%). Among women 40 years of age and older, the proportion who
- had ever had a mammogram also vaired twofold, from 28.6% in New
- Mexico to 57.5% in New Hampshire (median = 44.2%). Among all
- persons 65 years of age and older, the proportion who had
- received an influenza vaccination within the preceding 12 months
- ranged from 24% in Rhode Island to 41.3% in Montana (median =
- 34.3%).
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