Collaborating with NCHS, CDC, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania, NCI has produced model-based small area estimates for several cancer risk factors and screening behaviors?including current and ever smoking prevalence, mammography screening, pap smear screening and CRC screening rates for all states, counties, and health service areas. The estimates were produced using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), using a novel statistical methodology for four data periods covering 1997 to 2010. The final products have been released on the NCI?s Small Area Estimates for Cancer-related Measures website and included in the SEER county attributes database. The most recent estimates (2008-2010) have also been released on the State Cancer Profiles Website. Those small area estimates have become an important data resource for cancer research. DCCPS would like to continue this important effort to produce small area estimates using more updated data. For survey years 2011 and forward, BRFSS changed its design by including cell phone-only households using a dual frame design and implementing an improved weighting methodology. Our previously developed small area models cannot be directly applied any longer. Also, to access the confidential state or county identifiers in NHIS and BRFSS, we must go through the research data center (RDC) at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) (due to its policy change). For this new research, we are going to collaborate with NCHS and BRFSS staff to develop a new methodology consisting of combining NHIS and BRFSS, implementing changes in the BRFSS design, and producing up-to-date small area estimates for the outcomes of interest.
