At a glance
Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. When examining chronic diseases and their potential connection to the environment, it is important to consider lifestyle risk factors that could play a role in their development.
We Track That
Lifestyle risk factor data on the Tracking Network can be used by public health professionals to determine if certain health outcomes are related to the environment or if they could also be due to lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and lack of physical activity. The data can also be used by public health officials to determine the best public health actions to reduce modifiable lifestyle risk factors in their communities.
Personal behaviors that can affect chronic diseases include the following.
- Lack of physical activity
- Poor nutrition
- Not getting enough sleep
- Tobacco use
- Excessive alcohol use
Types of Data
The Tracking Network hosts the following lifestyle risk factor data. Data sources include CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, CDC's Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates (PLACES) Project, and the U.S. Census Bureau. These data are available at the state, county, or census tract level for all 50 states.
This alcohol use indicator shows the crude and age-adjusted rates of adults who report binge drinking (men: five or more drinks; women: four or more drinks) on one occasion within the past 30 days.
This indicator shows the prevalence of those who are overweight or obese.
This indicator shows the crude and age-adjusted rates of adults who report not participating in leisure-time physical activities or exercise during the past month.
This indicator shows the crude and age-adjusted rates of adults who report usually getting insufficient sleep, defined as less than 7 hours, on average, during a 24-hour period.
This indicator shows the prevalence of current and former smokers.
Access the Data
Use the Data Explorer to create custom maps, tables, and charts.
View data in simple Quick Reports.
Get machine-readable data from the Application Program Interface (API).
Data in Action
These data can be used for the following actions.
- Identifying environmental relationships that warrant further investigation or interventions
- Informing planning and evaluating efforts to reduce health burden
- Showing differences of prevalence between geographic areas
- Highlighting populations in need of targeted interventions