Division of Population Health

Data Source
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
This report features data on key indicators of health and well-being for U.S. adults aged 65 years or older.
These data are from CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). For more than 2 decades,
BRFSS has helped states survey U.S. adults regarding a wide range of personal behaviors that affect
their health. The BRFSS focuses primarily on physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use, and use of proven
preventive services (such as cancer screenings), all of which can affect the rates of the nation’s leading
health-related causes of death. BRFSS survey questions assess how many people engage in these and
other health and risk behaviors, whether these behaviors are increasing over time, and which populations
might be most at risk. The crucial information gathered through this state-based telephone survey system
is used by national, state, and local public health agencies to monitor the need for and the effectiveness
of various public health interventions.
Although the BRFSS is one of our most useful tools for assessing the health of the older adult
population, it has a few limitations. First, it excludes people who do not have telephones or who live in
institutions, such as nursing homes. Second, it may underrepresent people who are severely impaired
because they lack the functional capacity required to participate in the survey. Third, all responses to
the BRFSS are self-reported and, therefore, have not been confirmed by a health care provider.
Because BRFSS data are collected at the state level, the national data estimates provided in
Table 1 are actually the mean data for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The BRFSS is
administered and supported by the CDC. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/brfss.
The State of Aging and Health in America 2013 PAGE 49