Table 2.
Univariate analysis of 27 selected variables from the yearly BRFSS datasets.
| Descriptive analysis of each variable | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2018 | Year 2019 | Year 2020 | Year 2021 | ||||||
| Variable | Weighted frequency | Percent | Weighted frequency | Percent | Weighted frequency | Percent | Weighted frequency | Percent | |
| Region | Guam and Puerto Rico | 932,151 | 2.66 | 874,602 | 3.08 | 982,698 | 2.76 | 904,930 | 3.72 |
| Northeast | 5,020,880 | 14.31 | 3,662,703 | 12.92 | 5,390,689 | 15.12 | 3,628,617 | 14.91 | |
| Midwest | 8,180,076 | 23.31 | 6,548,514 | 23.09 | 7,160,230 | 20.08 | 5,133,029 | 21.09 | |
| South | 12,681,643 | 36.14 | 10,204,953 | 35.99 | 11,643,231 | 32.65 | 7,327,319 | 30.1 | |
| West | 8,271,581 | 23.57 | 7,066,440 | 24.92 | 10,487,563 | 29.41 | 7,347,019 | 30.18 | |
| Sex | Male | 16,688,903 | 47.67 | 13,485,224 | 47.55 | 17,043,091 | 47.79 | 11,707,118 | 48.1 |
| Female | 18,322,938 | 52.33 | 14,871,987 | 52.45 | 18,621,321 | 52.21 | 12,633,795 | 51.9 | |
| Private residency | Yes | 26,934,038 | 99.45 | 22,231,612 | 99.56 | 28,648,872 | 99.58 | 19,964,549 | 99.58 |
| No | 148,186 | 0.55 | 97,582 | 0.44 | 120,015 | 0.417 | 84,237 | 0.42 | |
| General health | Excellent/ very good | 17440893 | 49.83 | 13887471 | 49.09 | 20115955 | 56.52 | 12,684,965 | 52.23 |
| Good | 11,057,040 | 31.59 | 9,000,998 | 31.81 | 10,329,572 | 29.02 | 7,614,492 | 31.36 | |
| Fair/poor | 6,505,269 | 18.58 | 5,403,937 | 19.1 | 5,146,077 | 14.46 | 3,985,216 | 16.41 | |
| Physical health | One or more days of physically unhealthy | 12,643,464 | 36.04 | 10,387,049 | 36.63 | 9,866,516 | 27.66 | 7,705,310 | 31.66 |
| No. days of physically unhealthy | 22,442,867 | 63.96 | 17,970,162 | 63.37 | 25,797,896 | 72.34 | 16,635,603 | 68.34 | |
| Health care coverage | Yes | 31,412,808 | 89.94 | 25,214,888 | 89.34 | 31,982,797 | 90.11 | 21,858,242 | 93.12 |
| No | 3,512,524 | 10.57 | 3,007,296 | 10.66 | 3,509,580 | 9.89 | 1615760 | 6.88 | |
| Personal doctor | Yes, one or more providers | 27,846,983 | 79.86 | 22,525,029 | 79.81 | 28,192,581 | 79.46 | 20,605,467 | 85.39 |
| No providers | 7,024,489 | 20.14 | 5,697,952 | 20.19 | 7,285,537 | 20.54 | 3,526,172 | 14.61 | |
| Medical cost | Yes, the cost stopped me from seeing a doctor | 4,183,786 | 11.98 | 3,494,096 | 12.35 | 3,428,567 | 9.64 | 2,143,989 | 8.83 |
| No cost has not stopped me | 30,747,952 | 88.02 | 24,787,186 | 87.65 | 32,149,947 | 90.36 | 22,126,009 | 91.17 | |
| Checkups | Within the past 2 year | 30,784,216 | 89.4 | 24,963,834 | 89.57 | 31,410,602 | 89.59 | 21,293,014 | 89.14 |
| Within the past 5+ years or never | 3,649,613 | 10.6 | 2,905,854 | 10.43 | 3,649,868 | 10.41 | 2,593,966 | 10.86 | |
| Blood pressure meds | Yes | 8,158,078 | 79.58 | 6,978,901 | 80.52 | ||||
| No | 2,093,590 | 20.42 | 1,688,434 | 19.48 | |||||
| Diabetes | Yes, I have diabetes | 4,705,499 | 13.44 | 3,783,200 | 13.37 | 4,478,324 | 12.58 | 3,216,587 | 13.24 |
| No, I do not have diabetes | 30,316,423 | 86.56 | 24,517,615 | 86.63 | 31,113,520 | 87.42 | 21,072,074 | 86.76 | |
| Education level | Less than high school | 1,119,418 | 3.2 | 1,011,138 | 3.58 | 1,053,100 | 2.97 | 84,4407 | 3.49 |
| Graduated high school | 10,457,595 | 29.92 | 8,276,293 | 29.32 | 9,957,358 | 28.06 | 6,628,012 | 27.38 | |
| Attended college | 9,455,757 | 27.05 | 7,599,214 | 26.92 | 9,382,514 | 26.44 | 6,213,126 | 25.67 | |
| Graduated college | 13,918,884 | 39.82 | 11,342,942 | 40.18 | 15,090,952 | 42.53 | 10,518,491 | 43.46 | |
| Housing status | Rent | 22,273,809 | 63.95 | 18,061,579 | 64.23 | 22,157,251 | 62.71 | 15,305,106 | 63.56 |
| Own | 10,524,532 | 30.22 | 8,441,570 | 30.02 | 11,085,940 | 31.38 | 7,399,526 | 30.73 | |
| Other arrangements | 2,029,281 | 5.83 | 1,619,059 | 5.76 | 2,089,760 | 5.91 | 1,376,583 | 5.72 | |
| Employment | Employed | 19,343,930 | 55.83 | 15,312,412 | 54.95 | 19,309,900 | 55.2 | 13,291,520 | 55.63 |
| Unemployed | 1,522,535 | 4.39 | 1,269,260 | 4.55 | 2,516,488 | 7.19 | 1,463,896 | 6.13 | |
| Homemaker | 1,901,781 | 5.49 | 1,521,438 | 5.46 | 1,668,754 | 4.77 | 1,165,173 | 4.88 | |
| Student | 1,296,619 | 3.74 | 1,046,187 | 3.75 | 1,285,713 | 3.68 | 80,8341 | 3.38 | |
| Retired | 8,152,453 | 23.53 | 6,802,932 | 24.41 | 8,107,913 | 23.8 | 5,770,455 | 24.15 | |
| Unable to work | 2,433,459 | 7.02 | 1,914,816 | 6.87 | 2,091,086 | 5.98 | 1,393,952 | 5.83 | |
| Income level | < USD 35,000 | 10,136,312 | 34.72 | 8,016,867 | 34.55 | 9,171,928 | 31.78 | 5,882,478 | 30.41 |
| Between USD 35,000–75,000 | 8,278,722 | 28.36 | 6,440,716 | 27.76 | 7,974,662 | 27.63 | 5,454,622 | 28.2 | |
| > USD 75,000 | 10,775,406 | 36.91 | 8,746,480 | 37.69 | 11,715,830 | 40.59 | 8,005,611 | 41.39 | |
| Blindness | Yes, I am blind or have serious difficulty seeing | 1,837,021 | 5.39 | 1,493,232 | 5.46 | 1,701,068 | 4.96 | 1,238,576 | 5.3 |
| No | 32,222,873 | 94.61 | 25,875,330 | 94.54 | 32,564,365 | 95.04 | 22,140,320 | 94.7 | |
| High blood pressure/ diabetes testing | Yes, I have tested in the past 3 years | 8,466,257 | 60.83 | 5,934,190 | 60.25 | 8,814,629 | 56.63 | 3,336,624 | 57.52 |
| No | 5,452,393 | 39.17 | 3,914,326 | 39.75 | 6,751,186 | 43.37 | 2,464,414 | 42.48 | |
| Diabetes/ retinopathy | Yes, diabetes has affected my eyes | 267,222 | 21.46 | 282,539 | 17.73 | 152,080 | 18.62 | 223,363 | 19.19 |
| No | 978,174 | 78.54 | 1,311,371 | 82.27 | 664,664 | 81.38 | 940,416 | 80.81 | |
| Pre-diabetic | Yes, I have been told I am | 1,942,238 | 13.52 | 1,337,154 | 13.06 | 2,367,021 | 14.68 | 848,396 | 14.04 |
| No | 12,420,575 | 86.48 | 8,903,543 | 86.94 | 13,760,137 | 85.32 | 5,196,482 | 85.97 | |
| Visit diabetes doctor | More than one time in the past year | 34,914,139 | 99.63 | 28,146,737 | 99.44 | 35,550,973 | 99.74 | 24,186,956 | 99.52 |
| None | 131,151 | 0.37 | 157,861 | 0.558 | 93,067 | 0.261 | 115,459 | 0.475 | |
| Type of insurance coverage | Through employer | 1,141,875 | 45.17 | 3,182,005 | 42.05 | 3,285,970 | 47.93 | 9,866,517 | 42.03 |
| Personal plan | 266,208 | 10.53 | 716,526 | 9.47 | 641,013 | 9.35 | 2,152,566 | 9.17 | |
| State programs (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) | 920,660 | 36.42 | 2,899,253 | 38.31 | 2,510,187 | 36.62 | 8,386,268 | 35.73 | |
| Military (TRICARE, Veterans Affairs, etc.) | 110,076 | 4.35 | 217,368 | 2.87 | 220,172 | 3.21 | 779,777 | 3.32 | |
| Other sources | 80,337 | 3.18 | 239,336 | 3.16 | 180,342 | 2.63 | 673,114 | 2.87 | |
| None | 9,070 | 0.36 | 313,127 | 4.14 | 17,663 | 0.26 | 1,615,760 | 6.88 | |
| Race/ ethnicity | White, non-Hispanic | 23,735,633 | 67.65 | 19,072,793 | 67.26 | 23,519,706 | 65.95 | 15,670,625 | 64.38 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 3,363,827 | 9.59 | 2,582,056 | 9.12 | 3,225,033 | 9.04 | 2,213,461 | 9.09 | |
| Hispanic | 5269328 | 15.02 | 4613885 | 16.27 | 5819462 | 16.32 | 4301606 | 17.67 | |
| Other | 2717543 | 7.75 | 2088476 | 7.36 | 3100211 | 8.69 | 2155222 | 8.85 | |
| Provider of the majority of healthcare | Family/General practitioner | 189065 | 70.94 | 4577 | 60.67 | 602278 | 72.26 | 164480 | 67.07 |
| Other doctors | 77450 | 29.06 | 2967 | 39.33 | 231167 | 27.74 | 80766 | 32.93 | |
| Age | 40–44 years old | 2424126 | 7.04 | 1910183 | 6.85 | 2574128 | 7.37 | 1860148 | 7.8 |
| 45–49 years old | 2627926 | 7.63 | 2001118 | 7.17 | 2596337 | 7.3 | 1730210 | 7.26 | |
| 50–54 years old | 3007716 | 8.73 | 2353621 | 8.44 | 2986363 | 8.55 | 2057093 | 8.63 | |
| 55–59 years old | 3328569 | 9.66 | 2671280 | 9.57 | 3199981 | 9.16 | 2151936 | 9.03 | |
| 60–64 years old | 3464441 | 10.06 | 2812436 | 10.08 | 3391643 | 9.71 | 2312949 | 9.7 | |
| 65–69 years old | 3231215 | 9.38 | 2657507 | 9.52 | 3115639 | 8.92 | 2220841 | 9.32 | |
| 70–74 years old | 2659004 | 7.72 | 2290467 | 8.21 | 2686768 | 7.69 | 1945745 | 8.16 | |
| 75–79 years old | 1715634 | 4.98 | 1497458 | 5.37 | 1783988 | 5.12 | 1255081 | 5.27 | |
| 80+ years old | 1796204 | 5.21 | 1542881 | 5.53 | 1797977 | 5.15 | 1293010 | 5.42 | |
| Less than 40 years old | 10198099 | 29.6 | 8164636 | 29.26 | 10795602 | 30.91 | 7010107 | 29.41 | |
| BMI | Underweight | 516140 | 1.6 | 441618 | 1.71 | 543820 | 1.71 | 357223 | 1.64 |
| Normal weight | 10074172 | 31.32 | 7919495 | 30.68 | 9996356 | 31.36 | 6572615 | 30.2 | |
| Overweight/ obese | 21575912 | 67.08 | 17453601 | 67.61 | 21339730 | 66.94 | 14830673 | 68.15 | |
| Language | English | 32562297 | 92.82 | 25928166 | 91.99 | 33065885 | 92.71 | 22130234 | 90.92 |
| Spanish | 2517165 | 7.18 | 2256398 | 8.01 | 2598510 | 7.29 | 2210679 | 9.08 | |
| Region classification | Urban | 31,641,154 | 92.64 | 25404464 | 92.44 | 32449140 | 93.56 | 21881326 | 93.37 |
| Rural | 2,513,026 | 7.36 | 2,078,146 | 7.56 | 2,232,573 | 6.44 | 1,554,658 | 6.63 | |
Of the 27 selected variables, they include explanatory and the response variable (blindness).