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BRFSS 2012 Survey Data and Documentation

The 2012 BRFSS data continues to reflect the changes initially made in 2011 in weighting methodology (raking) and the addition of cell phone only respondents. The aggregate BRFSS combined landline and cell phone dataset is built from the landline and cell phone data submitted for 2012 and includes data for 50 states, the District of Columbia Guam, and Puerto Rico.

2012 Survey Data Information

2012 BRFSS Overview [PDF - 98 KB]
Provides information on the background, design, data collection and processing, statistical, and analytical issues for the combined landline and cell phone data set.

2012 BRFSS Codebook [PDF - 2 MB]
Codebook for the file showing variable name, location, and frequency of values for all reporting areas combined for the combined landline and cell phone data set.

Calculated Variables in Data Files [PDF - 266 KB]

2012 Summary Data Quality Report with Response Rates [PDF - 1 MB]

Preparing 2012 BRFSS Module Data for Analysis [PDF - 117 KB]

BRFSS Combined Landline and Cell Phone Weighted Response Rates by State, 2012

Comparability of Data [PDF - 106 KB]
Comparability of data across reporting areas for the combined landline and cell phone data set. The BRFSS 2012 data is not directly comparable to years of BRFSS data before 2011 because of the changes in weighting methodology and the addition of the cell phone sampling frame.

BRFSS Modules Used by State
BRFSS Modules Used by Category
Arranged by state or by category for the combined landline and cell phone data set.

Summary Matrix of Calculated Variables (CV) in the 2012 Data File

2012 Weighting Formula [PDF - 101 KB]

Data Files

There are 475,687 records for 2012. More information on participation is available in the States Conducting Surveillance by Year table. The data files are provided in ASCII and SAS Transport formats.

2012 BRFSS Data (ASCII) [ZIP - 58 MB]
Data released July 2013
This file for the combined landline and cell phone data set is in ASCII format. It has a fixed record length of 1682 positions.

2012 BRFSS Data (SAS Transport Format) [ZIP - 93 MB]
Data released July 2013
This file for the combined landline and cell phone data set was exported from SAS V8.2 in the XPT transport format. This file contains 359 variables. This format can be imported into SPSS or STATA. Please note: some of the variable labels get truncated in the process of converting to the XPT format so they may be slightly different from what is on the SASOUT12.SAS program.

Variable Layout
Format information on variable name by column position.

The combined Landline and Cellular Telephone Survey Multiple Questionnaire Version Data including Optional Modules
The Combined landline and cellular telephone multiple version questionnaire data sets contain the data from the states which conducted more than one version of their landline and cellular telephone survey questionnaires and used optional modules in 2012.

2012 BRFSS Landline Telephone Survey Data including Optional Modules
The BRFSS landline telephone survey data sets contain the data from the states, including data from optional modules in 2012 collected only on their landline telephone survey.

2012 BRFSS Landline Telephone Survey Multiple Questionnaire Version Data including Optional Modules
The multiple version questionnaire data sets contain the data from the states which conducted more than one version of their landline telephone questionnaire and used optional modules in 2012.

SAS Resources

The following files are included for use with SAS software developed by SAS Institute, Inc. The SAS files are programs that can be read using any text editor. Save SAS files as plain text files.

Format12.sas [SAS - 149 KB]
SAS for Windows program used to generate the 2012 format library.

Formats12 [SAS7BCAT - 435 KB]
Format library used with the 2012 BRFSS SAS Data File.

SASOUT12_LLCP.SAS [SAS - 37 KB]
SAS for Windows program to convert the ASCII file into a SAS dataset.

TRANSPRT.SAS [SAS - 3 KB]
SAS for Windows program to convert the XPT (SAS Transport) file into a SAS dataset.

Formas12.sas [SAS - 11 KB]
SAS for Windows format assignment statements.

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