The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is using one of the most extensive health-based telephone surveys available to help reverse a long-standing lack of health information about American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations.
The HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have partnered to increase the representation of American Indian/Alaska Native participants in the 2017 Behavioral Rick Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in order to generate a sample size that is large enough to produce reliable data. This oversampling, initiated by OMH, will help increase understanding of health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, access to care, and use of preventive services among these populations.
The BRFSS Survey is a nationwide system of telephone surveys that collects health-related data in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories. The survey includes different types of questions related to demographic characteristics and current health behaviors, such as use of tobacco and seat belts. Together, the surveys make up the largest continuously conducted health survey system in the world, with more than 400,000 adult interviews each year.
Using the 2017 BRFSS, CDC is conducting the oversampling in 11 states with higher numbers of AI/AN residents. The data, which is expected to be released next year, will provide local, state, tribal and federal health centers with critical information to help improve public health. It will also be shared with the 12 Tribal Epidemiology-Centers across the nation that assist tribes in identifying local priorities for health care delivery and health education.
Because of the small sample sizes that currently exist, health data for AI/ANs has typically been absent from reports citing national health statistics. In the most recent year data from the National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Report, published annually by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, just 147 of the 377 measures have AI/AN data. And for trends, only 52 of 317 measures include trend data for these populations. Increased availability of quality data will improve capabilities to identify health problems that impact AI/AN individuals and communities, improve health, and lead to more effective strategies for reducing health disparities and measuring the success of these activities.
OMH has developed tools and information that organizations and individuals can use to raise awareness of the BRFSS oversampling survey among AI/AN communities in participating states. And if you are among those who are contacted this year to take part in the survey, please be sure to answer the call!
Last Edited: 01/19/2023