SCHS: BRFSS Annual Questionnaires

Questionnaire Components

The BRFSS questionnaire is designed by CDC staff and state coordinators each year. It has three components:

1. core questions,
2. optional modules,
3. state added questions.

The core questions are asked by all states without any changes as required by CDC. A part of core questions that are asked every year, called the fixed core, include questions on health status, health insurance, smoking, HIV/AIDS, demographics and diabetes. Some core questions are asked every other year and are called the rotating core. In addition, each year a few questions related to emerging health problems are included in the core.

Each year, CDC provides optional modules that are sets of questions on health topics such as diabetes, cardiovascular health, arthritis, folic acid, skin cancer etc. These modules must be asked without any changes for CDC to post the data on its web site and to use in the published reports.

Finally, states can develop their own questions and add to their questionnaires. Most commonly, optional modules, rotating and emerging core questions from previous years or current year optional modules with changes made by states are used as state added questions.

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Last Modified: February 9, 2026