Objectives: The objective was to estimate the rates of behavior-related risk factors among American Indians in Oklahoma, and compare those to the Oklahoma general population rates and Healthy People 2010 goals where available.
Methods: The REACH 2010 Native American Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, a random telephone survey, was conducted in 2000 as a part of the larger national REACH initiative. It had 3,732 respondents and it included measures related to health status, health care access, overweight, exercise, tobacco use, alcohol use, hypertension, cholesterol screening and diabetes.
Results: Self-reported health status was excellent or very good among 52% of respondents and fair or poor among 21%. Sixty-one percent of adults were overweight or obese. Prevalence of current cigarette smoking was at 33%. Binge drinking in the last month was present among 18% of American Indian adults. Thirty percent of adults did not engage in any leisure time physical activity during the last month. Diagnosed high blood pressure was reported by 26% of respondents, and prevalence of diabetes exceeded 8%.
Conclusions: Majority of the recorded behaviors are above Healthy People 2010 goals, and exceed Oklahoma general population rates. There are also some significant gender differences, demonstrating the need for targeted intervention activities.