CDC BRFSS Historical Survey Questions and Variables

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data covering 1984 to 2023. This collection contains the historical questions, variable names, and response options from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based survey on health risk factors.

Use Cases

• Track the evolution of survey topics like 'Topic' and specific 'Question' wording across 'Year' for longitudinal analysis.
• Map 'VariableName' and 'Responses' across different survey years to ensure consistency in time-series modeling.
• Analyze the distribution of 'Question' 'Type' (e.g., core, rotating) and 'Topic' areas to understand surveillance priorities.

Strengths

• 40-year temporal coverage from 1984 to 2023.
• Includes structured metadata fields: Question, VariableName, Responses, Year, Topic, Type.

Limitations

• No sample data or row count provided to assess dataset size.
• Contains only survey metadata (questions/variables), not individual respondent records.

Provenance

Source

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), data.cdc.gov.

Collection Method

Continuous, state-based telephone surveillance system (BRFSS).

Time Range

1984-2023

Freshness

Updated as of April 28, 2025.

Geography

United States (state-based).