Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Substance use continues to be a major public health concern, negatively impacting a variety of health, legal, and social outcomes. Nearly one-fourth of Hoosiers ages 12 and older engaged in binge drinking in the past month and one-tenth used an illicit substance. Furthermore, 7% of Indiana residents met criteria for substance use disorder (SUD) in the past year and 6.5% needed but did not receive treatment for their SUD.

Of particular concern is polysubstance use, or the use of two or more substances over a defined period, simultaneously or at differing times, for recreational purposes. In over 70% of admissions to substance use treatment in Indiana, the use of multiple substances was indicated, with 30% reporting the use of two drugs and nearly 41% reporting the use of three drugs.

During state fiscal year 2018, a total of 10,483 children were removed from their parents by the Department of Child Services in Indiana; almost two-thirds (64%) of these removals were due to parental alcohol and/or drug use.

County health rankings provides the percentage of adults reporting fair or poor health (age-adjusted), by county. Counties can be compared and contrasted with easy data and map export.

County health rankings provides average number of mentally unhealthy days reported in past 30 days (age-adjusted), by county. Counties can be compared and contrasted with easy data and map export.

Marion County prevalence increased over 60 percent from 2000-2008, to 10.0% of adults (over 62,000 cases) but is not statistically different than national or state rates. Marion County’s 2008 prevalence is four times the Health People 2010 target for diabetes prevalence of 2.5% among adults. Marion County Black residents have a 60% higher prevalence rate than White residents and 33% higher rate than Hispanic residents.

In 2013, an estimated 32% of Marion County adults reported that they had been diagnosed with hypertension which was similar to the national rate of 31.4%. A 32% hypertension prevalence translates to almost 219,000 Marion County adults that have been diagnosed with hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in Marion County among Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) sample years between 2003 and 2013 did not vary significantly. Hypertension is not evenly distributed spatially throughout Marion County. The prevalence of hypertension ranged from 25% to 43.4% among Marion County Public Health Department planning areas in 2012. (DR2647).

The prevalence of obesity in Marion County adults was 27.4 per 100,000 residents in 2016 as compared to 24.7 per 100,000 in 2003. The change in diabetes prevalence was more noticeable, increasing from 8.6 per 100,000 in 2003 to 13.4 per 100,000. (DR3605).

There has been a stable increase in the obesity rate in Marion County from 2008-2018. Marion County obesity prevalence is higher than some other Midwest cities, but lower than the national rate. Males and non-Hispanic blacks have the highest prevalence of obesity (DR3769).

In 2018, at least 26% of Marion County adults (1 out of 4)  have been diagnosed with depression by a health care provider at some point in their lives; whereas, at least 14% of adults experienced mental distress (mentally unhealthy days at least for 10 days a month). 

This mental health fact sheet was developed in 2018 to define mental health and depression and to illustrate health impacts, treatment, risk factors, and inequities related to depression in Marion County. It also graphically represents the age-adjusted suicide mortality trend in Marion County from 2008 to 2017. Other details include Indiana's national ranking for mental illness prevalence and mental health care access among adults, youth and children (DR3783).

This graph depicts prevelance of depression by gender in the year 2016 in Marion County where prevelance among women is nearly twice that of men, DR3490.

During 2016, black, non-Hispanic adults had a higher prevalence of diabetes than their white, non-Hispanic and Hispanic counterparts, DR3535.