PHOM Indicator Profile Report of Health status: mental health past 30 days

Why Is This Important?

Mental health refers to an individual's ability to negotiate the daily challenges and social interactions of life without experiencing undue emotional or behavioral incapacity. Mental health and mental disorders can be influenced by numerous conditions including biologic and genetic vulnerabilities, acute or chronic physical dysfunction, and environmental conditions and stresses. The BRFSS mental health question is an attempt to obtain a global measure of recent mental and emotional distress.

Data Notes

Age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population. U.S. data are the average for all states and the District of Columbia but do not include the U.S. territories. In 2002 the U.S. data includes only 22 states that asked the question. Starting in 2009, the BRFSS included both landline and cell phone respondent interviews along with a new weighting methodology called iterative proportional fitting, or raking. More details about these changes can be found at: [https://ibis.utah.gov/ibisph-view/pdf/opha/resource/brfss/RakingImpact2011.pdf]. Note: At the time of this update, the BRFSS U.S. dataset did not include an age variable but did include five age categories up to age 80+ (vs. the typical weighting scheme that includes 85+). Comparisons with both weighting schemes were compared using Utah data, and the difference was about 1/100 of a percentage point.

How Are We Doing?

In 2023, approximately 23.7% (age-adjusted rate) of Utah adults reported seven or more days when their mental health was not good in the past 30 days. This percentage was higher for adults with lower income levels. Older adults are less likely to report poor mental health status.