title: A Methodological Approach to Small Area Estimation for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
abstract: Public health researchers have used a class of statistical methods to calculate prevalence estimates for small geographic areas with few direct observations. Many researchers have used Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data as a basis for their models. The aims of this study were to 1) describe a new BRFSS small area estimation (SAE) method and 2) investigate the internal and external validity of the BRFSS SAEs it produced. The BRFSS SAE method uses 4 data sets (the BRFSS, the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample, Nielsen Claritas population totals, and the Missouri Census Geographic Equivalency File) to build a single weighted data set. Our findings indicate that internal and external validity tests were successful across many estimates. The BRFSS SAE method is one of several methods that can be used to produce reliable prevalence estimates in small geographic areas.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3719 North Peachtree Rd, Bldg 100, Mailstop F-78, Chamblee, GA 30341. Email: ivk7@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pierannunzi
authors.affiliation: Division of Population Health, Population Health Surveillance Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Northrup Grumman, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Robyn C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.affiliation: Division of Population Health, Population Health Surveillance Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Garvin
authors.affiliation: Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Kurt J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Greenlund
authors.affiliation: Northrup Grumman, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bartoli
authors.affiliation: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.affiliation: Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eke
authors.affiliation: Division of Population Health, Population Health Surveillance Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: G Machell
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Town
mesh_terms: D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011634:Public Health / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D014481:United States