Quick Stats: Where to Go When you Need National or State Numbers on Demographics, Disease Burden, or Behavioral Risk Factors

Jess Gorzelitz MS, Population Health Sciences (PHS) SIG Student Liaison, Em V. Adams, PhDc, CTRS, PHS SIG Student Liaison, and Molly E. Waring, PhD, PHS SIG Chair

Do you ever find yourself in need of national, state, or local estimates of disease burden, risk factors, or behaviors to communicate the need for your research? We have compiled below online resources that provide quick access to national, state, or local population health statistics relating to disease burden, demographics, or behavioral risk factors. These tools are great resources for preparing presentations, writing op-eds, preparing policy briefs, making visits to policymakers, or justifying your planned participant enrollment in a grant proposal.

US Census American Fact Finder: Here you can find population facts (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, sex, households, housing characteristics, income) by state, county, city, town, or zip code; draws on data from the US Census and the American Community Survey. For example, according to the 2010 US Census, Atlanta, GA, had just over 420,000 residents, with an average household size of 2.11 people.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: Use this data to produce charts or tables for specific chronic disease or health behaviors for the nation or specific states, and by year; create tables examining prevalence of health behaviors or risk factors within a second variable. For example, in 2017 approximately 69% of adults from Washington, DC had consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the past 30 days.

National Health Information National Trends Survey: In this database, you can find estimated population frequency and percent among US adults related to cancer-related information and health communication. For example, 9% of US adults have used a tanning bed or booth in the past 12 months.

NCI State Cancer Profiles: This site contains interactive maps and tables relating to cancer demographics, screening & risk factors, cancer knowledge, and cancer incidence, prevalence, & mortality by US state. For example, Kentucky has the highest rate of colorectal cancer (48.4 cases per 100,000 population) and Utah has the lowest incidence (27.9 cases per 100,000 population).

NCI Tobacco Policy Viewer: This tool presents mapping, query, and download of historical smoke-free policy data in the US, including data for US states, counties, and cities, types of indoor areas that are smoke-free, length of time since the smoke-free policy was enacted, and population coverage of each policy. For example, in 2010, Wisconsin enacted a law against smoking in workplaces.

While this list is not exhaustive, it provides a starting point to find estimates for risk factors, trends, and disease incidence, and may useful to SBM members as we strive to lead the narrative in our areas of expertise.