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Friday, June 6, 2008

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance --- United States, 2007


In the United States, 72% of all deaths among youth and young adults aged 10--24 years result from four causes: motor-vehicle crashes (30%), other unintentional injuries (15%), homicide (15%), and suicide (12%) (1). Substantial morbidity and social problems also result from the approximately 757,000 pregnancies among women aged 15--19 years (2), the estimated 9.1 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among persons aged 15--24 years (3), and the estimated 5,089 cases of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) among persons aged 15--24 years (4) that occur annually. Among adults aged >25 years, 59% of all deaths in the United States result from cardiovascular disease (36%) and cancer (23%) (1). These leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults in the United States are related to six categories of priority health-risk behaviors: behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV infection; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. These behaviors frequently are interrelated and are established during childhood and adolescence and extend into adulthood.

To monitor priority health-risk behaviors in each of these six categories and obesity and asthma among youth and young adults, CDC developed the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) (5). YRBSS includes national, state, and local school-based surveys of students in grades 9--12. National, state, and local surveys have been conducted biennially since 1991 .

This report summarizes results from the 2007 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and trends during 1991--2007 in selected risk behaviors. Data from the 39 state and 22 local surveys with weighted data for the 2007 YRBSS cycle also are included in this report. Data from the remaining five state surveys with unweighted data are not included. The national survey, 37 weighted state surveys, and 22 weighted local surveys were conducted during spring 2007, and two of the weighted state surveys were conducted during fall 2007.

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