Disparities in environmental health behaviors among Colorado adults

Purpose

Although much is known about the regulatory side of environmental health, much less is known about population based attitudes and behaviors regarding environmental health. To help fill this knowledge gap, state and local environmental health professionals in Colorado established a set of questions to add to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System about environmental health in order to quantify behaviors and identify disparities.

Study questions

Are there differences by race/ethnicity, age, gender, income and educational level with regard to adult behaviors around environmental health issues?

Methods and Results

Six domains of interest were identified: drinking water, waste water, outdoor air quality, radon, sustainability, and food safety. Seventeen pre-validated questions were identified to measure these domains. These questions were added to the 2009 Colorado Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. The BRFSS is the world's largest, on-going telephone health survey system, tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States. Although supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the survey allows states to add questions of interest to that state. A standard protocol is followed and data are weighted to the state's population by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. In 2009, 5,358 surveys were completed with Colorado adults. Responses to the 17 environmental health questions were analyzed by demographic characteristics. Health disparities were identified. This presentation will include the results of this analysis.

Conclusions

The BRFSS is an excellent tool for assessing environmental behaviors and identifying disparities which allows for appropriate targeting of interventions.