General Release Notes

2018 BRFSS

Changes in the race/ethnicity dimensions.

In 2018, the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) revised how it collects race/ethnicity information in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The new methodology better aligns with national data collection standards and complies with the race/ethnicity algorithm used by the Office of Health Status Monitoring in DOH.

There are now two versions of DOH race/ethnicity: (2011+, new) and (2011-2017).

• DOH race/ethnicity (2011+, new) includes data from 2011-2017 which have been harmonized with 2018 data to be consistent across survey years and instruments. We will be supporting this dimension going forward.
• DOH race/ethnicity (2011-2017) is the old version which you have seen in the past. Because of the changes, the 2018 BRFSS data is not available for the DOH race/ethnicity (2011-2017) dimension.

For a limited time, both versions of DOH race/ethnicity will be available, to give users an opportunity to compare and assess the impact of this change on indicators that are of interest to them. Please plan on transitioning to the new (2011+, new) race/ethnicity dimension going forward, as this is the new standard for DOH.

• Program race/ethnicity (2011+, new) has also changed and includes data from 2011 forward. This dimension has been streamlined into 15 categories, down from 40 categories, based on changes in the data collection instrument.
• In 2018, the Department of Health (DOH) revised how it collects race/ethnicity information in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The new methodology better aligns with national data collection standards and complies with the race/ethnicity algorithm used by the Office of Health Status Monitoring in DOH.

Poverty Level (2014+) dimension.

This new socioeconomic indicator dimension is based on multiple questions including the number of people living in the household and the annual household income from all sources. These numbers are compared to the annual US Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines to approximate the respondent's Federal Poverty Level percentage. This data is available from 2014 to the most recent year. Queries that request an indicator by this dimension will only include data from 2014 forward.

Sexual and Gender Minority (2014+) dimension.

This new demographic indicator dimension is based on sexual orientation and transgender identity. Adults who identify their sexual orientation as gay, lesbian, bisexual or something else, or who identify as transgender are coded as "yes" all others are coded as "no". This data is available from 2014 to the most recent year. Queries that request an indicator by this dimension will only include data from 2014 forward.

Transgender (2014+) dimension.

This new demographic indicator dimension is based on transgender identity. Adults who identify as transgender (male-to-female, female-to-male or gender non-conforming) are coded as "yes" all others are coded as "no". This data is available from 2014 to the most recent year. Queries that request an indicator by this dimension will only include data from 2014 forward.

2017 BRFSS

The underlying SAS code was modified to more accurately generate the asymmetric confidence intervals that occur when point prevalences approach 0 and 1. This code change will impact all BRFSS Hawaii-IBIS reports. As a result, there may be slight differences in confidence intervals and relative standard errors, and hence, reportability, from previous years. Please check your query results carefully and re-run reports as necessary. Hawaii-IBIS runs on SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc: Cary, NC).

Other Information

Note about indicator/dimension titles:

The BRFSS is constantly changing. HHDW staff carefully review the BRFSS survey instrument each year to assess how changes in the survey instrument impact indicators and dimensions within the Hawaii-IBIS system. When an indicator or dimension is not available across all years in Hawaii-IBIS, this information will be added to the name. For example, there are two versions of Adults with at least one disability (2016+) and (2013-2016). In 2016, a question about auditory disability was added to the BRFSS so a new indicator was created to capture any disability including hearing issues--Adults with at least one disability (2016+). Poverty level (2014+) is available from 2014 forward only based on when questions about household members for cell phone respondents were added to the survey. A query with data by Poverty level (2014+) dimension will only contain data from 2014+ regardless of the years of data for the base indicator. If you have questions, check the Question Wording in the Data Notes section of the report.