The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System conducts telephone interviews of randomly selected adults askingquestions behaviors and conditions related to leading causes of death and disability. - The Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an annual statewide telephone surveillance system operating since 1984 and administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Illinois BRFSS monitors modifiable risk behaviors and other factors contributing to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the population. Data from the Illinois BRFSS are useful to document need for interventions, direct limited public resources to population groups with the greatest risk, evaluate previous efforts to promote health, and support policy initiatives. The mission of the Illinois BRFSS program is to collect high-quality population-based information on conditions and behaviors associated with the leading causes of mortality, morbidity, injury, and disability. The program’s goal is to provide free data that addresses the needs of public health, health care professionals, researchers, prevention experts, and other stakeholders engaged in improving the health and well-being of Illinois residents. The program’s objective is to provide state and sub-state level data that can be used to guide prevention and health promotion efforts to at-risk groups and those with health disparities. As the Illinois’s public health leading agency, IDPH oversees numerous state-wide prevention and health promotion programs. IDPH has long-standing relationships with local health departments, hospital and other health care delivery systems, university-based researchers, and many other healthcare institutions. IDPH is therefore uniquely positioned to fulfill at best the BRFSS mission, goals, and objectives. In collaboration with many other programs, agencies, and organizations at various levels, data from the Illinois BRFSS program have proven so useful that IDPH initiated a similar system to obtain data for individual counties. The Illinois County Behavioral Risk Survey (ICBRFS) is known throughout the Illinois public health community as a valuable, timely, and versatile survey. Results from the Illinois BRFSS and ICBRFS are published on the IDPH website at www.idph.state.il.us/brfss.
