The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer collect data on the health of LGBT Americans from a major federal survey administered by all 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories.

The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles released a statement on Thursday in which it said that a CDC official revealed the decision during a Denver conference hosted by the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

According to the Williams Institute, the official said that starting in 2019 the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) will no longer include an optional module on sexual orientation and gender identity. The BRFSS surveys Americans on behavioral risk factors such as car safety, obesity and exercise. More than 30 states and territories reportedly used the optional LGBT module.

Kerith J. Conron, research director at the Williams Institute, criticized the move.

“By removing LGBT measures from the BRFSS, the federal government is shrinking its responsibility to LGBT Americans,” Conron said in a statement.

Conron added that the BRFSS provided the “first representative snapshot of transgender adult health and socioeconomic status.”

“These data showed us that transgender people are indeed at higher risk of poverty – confirming what smaller studies conducted in HIV epicenters had observed,” Conron said.

Adam P. Romero, director of federal policy at the Williams Institute, said that the rollback “appears to be part of an alarming trend within the federal government aimed at limiting our knowledge about LGBT people, despite the fact that these data are vital to policy making and designing evidence-based intervention to improve health and well-being.”