High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data are now available for 2015!

Both state- and county-level reports for the 2015 High School YRBS have been posted!  In addition to all the reports we have traditionally offered, we created many new ones for this data set.  Here are some of the results…

In 2015, 43% of high school students in Honolulu County report using active transport to and from school at least one a week.  Riding a bike or walking not only provides an opportunity for physical activity, it’s also good for the planet.

Among high school students across the state in 2015, 1 in 6 report having to avoid certain foods due to allergic reactions.  Food allergies can cause serious reactions, even death. (more…)

The 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data are in!

Check out the latest data on the health of Hawaii’s adult residents!  BRFSS collects information on a wide range of health issues, from mental health to physical activity.  It is a critical survey for monitoring the health of our state.

This year, HHDW has added reports looking at a variety of health issues among people with arthritis, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  Here are some of the findings….

Among adults with arthritis, 8.1% also have heart disease.  This is more than twice the rate in the general population.  The medical community believes this is a result of increased inflammation in persons with arthritis.  The same lifestyle factors increase the risk of heart disease among people with and without arthritis: smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, inactivity, and obesity.

Although the reasons behind the relationship remain unclear, adults with diabetes are 40% more likely to suffer from depression than the general population.  Screening for depression is an important part of managing diabetes.

Though it’s known that smoking can cause COPD, it appears that a COPD diagnosis does not always encourage smokers to quit.  Adults aged 45+ years with COPD are still 2.5 times more likely to be current smokers than their counterparts in the general population.  Resources for smoking cessation assistance should be provided as part of the management of COPD. (more…)

The new HHDW.org website and Hawaii Indicator Based Information System (Hawaii-IBIS) are here!

The wait is over! HHDW unveiled its new, improved website, including an excellent data query tool that puts the power in the user’s hands. The traditional HHDW reports are still available for all six data sources and the searching capacity remains unchanged. Users can find detailed data on over 600 different health measures by searching by category, data source, or Healthy People 2020 topic area. The Leading Health Indicator reports by county and by race/ethnicity are also still present.

However, the addition of Hawaii-IBIS (Indicator Based Information System) gives users the ability to perform real-time data queries using parameters they set. (more…)