The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a collaborative project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and U.S. states and territories. BRFSS, administered and supported by the Behavioral Surveillance Branch (BSB) of the CDC, is an on-going data collection program designed to measure behavioral risk factors in the adult population 18 years of age or over living in households. The BRFSS was initiated in 1984, with 15 states collecting surveillance data on risk behaviors through monthly telephone interviews. The number of states participating in the survey increased, so that by 1999, 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands were participating in the BRFSS.

The objective of the BRFSS is to collect uniform, state-specific data on preventive health practices and risk behaviors that are linked to chronic diseases, injuries, and preventable infectious diseases in the adult population. Factors assessed by the BRFSS include tobacco use, general health status, health care coverage, HIV/AIDS, and use of cancer screening services, among others. Data are collected from a random sample of adults (one per household) through a telephone survey.

This dataset contains observations from only those states that participated in the "Sexual Behavior" modules, which included questions on HIV/AIDS. PETRA 08 is comprised of cases from Delaware, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont.