A framework for regional analysis of the 2006 BRFSS asthma call-back survey

The Asthma Regional Council (ARC) brings together multi-disciplinary partners to better understand and address the asthma epidemic in New England. In the past, ARC analyzed the 2001 and 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and discovered that our region had among the highest rates of adult and childhood asthma, as well as identified specific populations at greatest risk. To understand the epidemic at a deeper level, ARC not only analyzed the 2006 BRFSS prevalence rates and multi-year trends, but also evaluated the more detailed information collected by the BRFSS asthma call-back (telephone follow-up) survey. State partners worked collaboratively to help ARC determine which of the many questions in the survey would yield information that could best assist policy makers in evaluating the disease and addressing the epidemic more efficiently and effectively. Indicators analyzed included the proportion of asthmatics that visit hospital emergency departments for asthma-related care, the presence of in-home asthma triggers, and characteristics or status of asthma management and control in the population. These are measures that have never been broadly analyzed before on a state-by-state or regional basis. The region also grappled with characterizing asthma severity using updated national standards. By conducting a regional analysis, this project has made it possible to obtain meaningful statistical results that would generally not be possible with a state-by-state analysis in a single year. This presentation will not only demonstrate selected findings, but will also discuss the framework used to analyze the call-back data through a collaborative effort.