U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the number of states, territories, and DC that include sexual orientation and gender identity questions in the BRFSS — LGBT‑03 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), CDC/NCCDPHP

Baseline: 28 states (including DC and territories) included questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in the BRFSS in 2016

Target: 55 States (including DC and Territories)

Numerator
Number of states, territories, and the District of Columbia that included questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in the BRFSS.
Target-setting method
Maintain consistency with national programs, regulations, policies, or laws
Target-setting method justification
The target was selected to align with the Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI Equity, a roadmap that federal agencies will use to ensure they are collecting the data and evidence they need to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ Americans. This guidance used a target-setting method of total coverage.

Methodology

Methodology notes

The topic area workgroup will annually review BRFSS for its inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity questions in the instrument.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.
Revision History
Revised. 

In 2023, the baseline was revised from 31 states (including DC and territories) in 2016 to 28 states (including DC and territories) in 2016, due to additional information and a reassessment. The target-setting method was revised from percent improvement to maintain consistency with national programs, regulations, policies, or laws. The target was revised from 37 states (including DC and territories) to 55 states (including DC and territories).