Invited Commentary

Commentary on "Race, Socioeconomic Status, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Self-Care of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among Adults in North Carolina"

Authors: Eric M. Hecht, MD, MSPH, David C. Landy, MD, PhD

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 1984 to supplement their annual series of surveillance surveys to monitor the prevalence of infectious and chronic diseases, as well as risk factors for future disease in the US population.1 The BRFSS is a telephone survey conducted at the state level to assess the health behaviors of Americans from smoking to the use of preventive services. These surveys provide a basis for understanding population health and targets for control and prevention in the United States. These efforts have tracked the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, which now account for 7 of the top 10 causes of death in the United States. Of these, diabetes mellitus may pose the greatest cumulative threat to morbidity, resource expenditures, and mortality, given the broad range of its complications and the management of those complications.

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