Researchers receive CDC Funding to Study Health Risk of Behavior

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an on-going telephone health survey system run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracking health risk behaviors, preventive health practices, and health care access related to chronic disease and injury. The data received from these surveys establishes priorities for state and federal health department initiatives that serve to improve public health. This data is also used by National Institutes of Health to set priorities for research. Drs. Jungquist and Dickerson along with their research team were funded by the CDC to validate the survey questions about sleep behaviors and disorders. Their study discovered 2 of the 5 questions currently used in the CDC telephone surveys were not reliably capturing sleep problems likely causing automobile accidents and poor or dangerous performance at work. The team is developing more specific questions in collaboration with the CDC. Study results have been disseminated at the UB Celebration of Student Academic Excellence and at the 2014 International Sleep Conference.