Prevention. Promotion. Protection.

Alaska Diabetes Prevalence Maps

The Section of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDPHP) now has the capacity to produce diabetes prevalence maps for Alaska by borough or census area.  These maps are based on data collected by the Alaska Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (AK BRFSS).  Respondents were assigned to boroughs or census areas based on the prefix of the telephone number used to contact them.  The estimated numbers of Alaskans with diabetes were extrapolated using Census data.*

*The methodology used when creating these maps is different from the process used by the CDC in developing its county-level estimates of diabetes prevalence maps.  The Alaska data source includes both the standard BRFSS and the modified BRFSS; the latter survey duplicates the CDC’s standard BRFSS weighting and sample selection methods, but is entirely state-run.  Both the standard and the modified BRFSS include the diabetes screening question, which is used for diabetes prevalence estimates.  By using data from both surveys, CDPHP uses information from twice as many respondents as the CDC, which only has the standard BRFSS available.  The larger sample size increases the accuracy of survey results, and supports displaying results for nearly all of Alaska’s boroughs and census areas.

The CDC county-level diabetes prevalence maps were developed using a statistical modeling process and BRFSS and Census data.  The model uses information from neighboring counties to supplement data from the smallest places.  Although the CDC discourages using their maps to rank counties by diabetes prevalence, county estimates can be compared across the country because they were developed using the same process and data sources.  The CDC does not intend that their maps should replace maps produced by states, if they are available.

If you want to compare the AK BRFSS maps with those by the CDC, you might be interested in maps for the ≥ 20 age group, showing Alaska diabetes population distribution, or with groupings based on natural instead of fixed intervals.  Contact Gail Stolz (269-8034 or gail.stolz@alaska.gov) to ask for them.