International travellers from New Jersey: piloting a travel health module in the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey†

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Travel Med
• Personal Author:
  Stoney, Rhett J. ; Kozarsky, Phyllis ; Bostick, Roberd M. ; Sotir, Mark J.
• Description:
  Background
  
  In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Jersey Department of Health used the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (NJBRFS), a state component of the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to pilot a travel health module designed to collect population-based data on New Jersey residents travelling internationally. Our objective was to use this population-based travel health information to serve as a baseline to evaluate trends in US international travellers.
  
  Methods
  
  A representative sample of New Jersey residents was identified through a random-digit-dialing method and administered the travel health module, which asked five questions: travel outside of USA during the previous year; destination; purpose; if a healthcare provider was visited before travel and any travel-related illness. Additional health variables from the larger NJBRFS were considered and included in bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regression; weights were assigned to variables to account for survey design complexity.
  
  Results
  
  Of 4029 participants, 841 (21%) travelled internationally. Top destinations included Mexico (10%), Canada (9%), Dominican Republic (6%), Bahamas (5%) and Italy (5%). Variables positively associated with travel included foreign birth, ≥$75 000 annual household income, college education and no children living in the household. One hundred fifty (18%) of 821 travellers with known destinations went to high-risk countries; 40% were visiting friends and relatives and only 30% sought pre-travel healthcare. Forty-eight (6%) of 837 responding travellers reported travel-related illness; 44% visited high-risk countries.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Approximately one in five NJBRFS respondents travelled internationally during the previous year, a sizeable proportion to high-risk destinations. Few reported becoming ill as a result of travel but almost one-half of those ill had travelled to high-risk destinations. Population-based surveillance data on travellers can help document trends in destinations, traveller type and disease prevalence and evaluate the effectiveness of disease prevention programmmes.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, 80 And Over Article Bahamas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS Canada Dominican Republic Female Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Humans Internationality Italy Logistic Models Male Mexico Middle Aged New Jersey Population-based Surveillance Risk Factors Surveys And Questionnaires Travel Travel Epidemiology Travellers’ Health US International Travel Young Adult

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• Source:
  J Travel Med. 23(1)
• Pubmed ID:
  26782130
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4843503
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  1
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d49204a5ce3bf81e83bb5812c1446565704dec3b9c27b68cfa85f708fdccc882
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/39091/cdc_39091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 440.83 KB ]