Statistics and Tracking

CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion engages in surveillance activities in order to:

• Collect data to better understand the extent of health risk behaviors, preventive care practices and the burden of chronic diseases
• Monitor the progress of prevention efforts
• Help public health professionals and policymakers make more timely and effective decisions

The Center’s surveillance activities provide data and statistics relevant to each of its program areas. Listed below are links to CDC’s major chronic disease surveillance systems.

CDC’s Major Chronic Disease Surveillance Systems

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
The BRFSS is a state-based system of health surveys that make up the world’s largest telephone survey. The survey tracks health risks in the United States and uses this information to improve the health of the American people. Available resources include the following:

• Prevalence and Trends Data: State-level estimates can be compared to other states and grouped by selected demographics. Observe state-level trends in the prevalence of certain health risk behaviors.
• SMART Data: View local area estimates and statewide “Quick View” charts.
• BRFSS Maps: Generate maps displaying state- and local-level estimates.
• Annual Survey Data: Download the data and documentation for all completed survey years.
• BRFSS Questionnaires page: View questionnaires for the BRFSS survey in English and Spanish versions.
• WEAT: Web Enabled Analysis Tool: It includes the following advanced analysis tools:
  • Cross Tabulation Analysis - Create Cross Tabulation Reports from the BRFSS data for Analysis.
  • Logistic Analysis - Analyze the BRFSS data using Logistic regression.

Chronic Disease Indicators
Chronic Disease Indicators (CDI) is a cross-cutting set of 97 indicators that were developed by consensus and that allows states and territories to uniformly define, collect, and report chronic disease data.

Chronic Disease State Policy Tracking System
The Chronic Disease State Policy Tracking System is a state-based searchable database that provides policy information for preventing and controlling diseases. Currently this database contains nutrition, physical activity, and obesity data. This system provides a single data source for identifying and tracking selected policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The database can be used to conduct policy research and help educate public health professionals, researchers, and decision makers about state-level policies and programs to address chronic diseases. The types of policies collected include state legislation and agency regulations. Information includes bill number, bill history, year, and legislative sponsor. An abstract of the policy and its current status also is provided.

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL)
The concept of health-related quality of life refers to a person or group's perceived physical and mental health over time. The purpose of HRQOL surveillance is to identify unmet population health needs; recognize trends, disparities, and determinants of health in the population; and inform decision making and program evaluation in the area of public health.

National Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance System (NASS)
To fulfill the mandate of the Fertility Clinic Success Rates and Certification Act of 1992, CDC maintains a surveillance system designed to collect information on Assistive Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment outcomes from all infertility clinics in the United States, and publishes an annual report. Data collected includes patient profile, reasons for ART treatment, type of ART procedure, treatment outcomes, and clinic contact information.

The National Diabetes Surveillance System
The National Diabetes Surveillance System provides resources documenting the public health burden of diabetes and its complications in the United States.

National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a large-scale household interview survey. Survey results are instrumental in providing data to track health status, health care access, and progress toward achieving national health objectives.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations.

National Oral Health Surveillance System (NOHSS)
NOHSS presents data from state-based and national surveys to monitor trends in key indicators of oral health status, oral health care utilization, receipt of preventive interventions such as water fluoridation and dental sealants, and state oral health program infrastructure.

National Program of Cancer Registries
NPCR funds population-based cancer registries in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Pacific Island jurisdictions to collect data on the occurrence of cancer; the type, extent, and location of the cancer; and the type of initial treatment. These data enable public health professionals to better understand and address the cancer burden.

National Youth Tobacco Survey
NYTS is a nationally representative cross-sectional school-based survey of public school students enrolled in grades 6-12. NYTS provides the data needed to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of state and national comprehensive tobacco control programs that work to prevent young people from initiating tobacco use and help those who have already started using tobacco to quit.

Pediatric and Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System
The Pediatric (PedNSS) and Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System (PNSS) Web-based training site provides online training modules and uses case studies to show how to read a table, review data quality, interpret the data, use the data for program evaluation, and disseminate the data in reports and facts sheets.

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System
PRAMS collects state-specific, population-based data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy.

State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System
The State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System is an electronic data warehouse containing up-to-date and historical state-level data on tobacco use prevention and control. The STATE System is designed to integrate many data sources to provide comprehensive summary data and facilitate research and consistent data interpretation. STATE System presently offers the ability to generate reports for the following topic areas: Behaviors, Demographics, Economics, Environment, Funding, Health Consequences and Costs, and Legislation. The STATE System is the primary data source for tobacco control legislation on Advertising, Excise Tax, Licensure, Preemption, Smokefree Indoor Air, and Licensure. These data are collected and analyzed by the STATE System.

United States Cancer Statistics (USCS)
This Web-based report includes the official federal statistics on cancer incidence from registries that have high-quality data and cancer mortality statistics. Data from this report provide a basis for research, cancer control planning, health communications, and policy development efforts.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
The YRBSS was developed to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute markedly to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States.