Women's Health and the Baxter County BRFSS

Baxter County BRFSS Survey Women's Demographics

Total Number of People Surveyed
Male	Female	Total Surveyed
348	499	847

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Breast Cancer
In addition to the standard BRFSS questions, the Baxter County survey included special questions about women's health issues. These additional questions were supported by the Arkansas Department of Health's BreastCare program and the Little Rock affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. BreastCare was created by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1997 to provide education about breast cancer to all Arkansas women and offers free breast cancer screenings and diagnostic and treatment services for women who meet eligibility requirements. Women are encouraged to call free 1-877-670-CARE (2273) to determine if they qualify for free services from BreastCare. The Susan G. Komen Foundation's mission is to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening, and treatment. The questions were designed to determine women's awareness of things they can do to aid in the early detection of breast cancer.

Women & Behavioral Risk Factors
Women's health concerns more than just breast care and reproductive health. Disparities between women's and men's health exist among various risk factors.

Specific areas where the greatest differences were uncovered in Baxter County include self-reported perceptions of health, utilization of preventative health care and health screenings, personal risk behaviors, and care giving. Information about these and other women's health topics can be found at The National Women's Health Information Center.

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Women were more likely than men to report that their physical health and their mental health had been "not good" on one or more days during the past month. Women had an average of 5.2 days in the previous month that they reported feeling worried or anxious compared to 4.5 anxious or tense days for men. However, men reported an average of 3.6 days of feeling sad or blue in the past month compared to an average of 2.9 days for women.

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While women were more likely to have received routine checkup and dental care within the recommended time frames, they were less likely to have had a colonoscopy with the recommended time, and they were more likely to report that they had not talked to a mental health professional when they felt they had needed to.

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Baxter County men were more likely than women to be smokers, to use smokeless tobacco, to have five or more drinks in a row on one occasion during the past month (binge drinking), and to be overweight than women. Seventy-two percent of women who were overweight said they were trying to loose weight. However, 28 percent of the women who were not overweight are also trying to lose weight.

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Almost a quarter of Baxter County women had provided regular care or assistance to an elderly or disabled family member or friend.

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