The CDC Behavioral Surveillance Branch (BSB) has released data for Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends, or SMART BRFSS, which provides an online tool that allows users to compare selected data for states, cities and counties, from 2002-2008.  This web site provides information comparing the prevalence of numerous health conditions and health behaviors -- binge drinking, asthma, hypertension, obesity, physical activity, smoking, for instance -- across counties, cities and states.

The data, collected through the BRFSS, is used by CDC as well as other programs and states to plan, manage, and evaluate state-based chronic disease prevention and health promotion programs.

SMART BRFSS began with the analysis of data from the 2002 BRFSS. It now includes data from 2002 through 2008, with prevalence estimates for over 200 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MMSAs), as well as many counties within those areas.  The web site includes the data sets and prevalence tables for MMSAs and counties, as well as preset Quick View charts that compare county, MMSA, and state data for seven select risk factors in an easy-to-print PDF format.

The BRFSS is a unique, state-based surveillance system active in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.  Information on health risk behaviors, clinical preventive health practices, and health care access, primarily related to chronic disease and injury, is obtained from a representative sample of non-institutionalized adults, 18 years and older, in each state.  The BRFSS provides flexible, timely, and ongoing data collection that allows for state-to-state and state-to-nation comparisons.  The BRFSS is the largest telephone-based surveillance system in the world, with more than 400,000 interviews in 2008.

For more information or to access the SMART data log on to the following address: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/BRFSS-SMART/.