Database name:
Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey

Thematic Coverage:
This survey collects a continuous supply of smoking prevalence data by province-sex-age groups, against which changes in prevalence can be monitored. It tracks changes in smoking status, especially for populations most at risk. It also collects information on tobacco use and related issues.
Maintained by:
Special Surveys Division, Statistics Canada
Availability:
A public version of the file is available through the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). Some variables are suppressed and other are aggregated to protect the anonymity of individual survey respondents. Custom tabulations are available on a cost recovery basis.



Start Date:
1999
Release Date:
6 months after reference period
Frequency of collection:
Semi-annual



Data Collection:
A computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) collected information from persons aged 15 years and older. A special two-phase stratified random sample of telephone numbers was used in order the increase the representation in the sample of individuals belonging to the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups.
Sample size:
Approximately 11,500 respondents, who when weighted, represent the Canadian population 15 years and older.



Geographic coverage:
All provinces, excluding residents of the Territories and full-time residents of institutions and households without telephones. People without telephones account for less than 3% of the target population, however, the survey estimates have been weighted to include person without telephones.

Lowest geographic
level collected:
Postal Code
Lowest geographic
level of release:
Province
Existing rural variable:
Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) / Census Agglomeration (CA) and Non-CMA/CA are coded. Prince Edward Island has no CMA and the CMAs of Montreal and Toronto were each separate strata.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) / Census Agglomeration (CA) and Non-CMA/CA can be used as an urban / rural variable. CMA/CA and Non-CMA/CA can be used to construct a 5-level rural/urban variable. Urban core, urban fringe and rural fringe distinguish between central and peripheral urban and rural areas within a census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA). Urban core is a large urban area around which a CMA or a CA is delineated. The urban core must have a population (based on the previous census) of at least 100,000 persons in the case of a CMA, or between 10,000 and 99,999 persons in the case of a CA. The urban core of a CA that has been merged with an adjacent CMA or larger CA is called the secondary urban core. Urban fringe is the urban area within a CMA or CA that is not contiguous to the urban core. It has a minimum population of 1,000 and a population density of at least 400 per square kilometre, based on the previous census counts. Rural fringe is all territory within a CMA or CA not classified as an urban core or an urban fringe. The other levels of geography in this classification are urban area (small towns) that lie outside of CMA and rural area lying outside of CMA.

Rural definitions that can be constructed from this database include (building block)*:
Census "rural areas"
(Enumeration Area)
Rural and Small Town definition
(Census Subdivision)
Metropolitan area and census agglomeration Influenced Zones
(Census Subdivision)
OECD "rural communities" definition
(Census Consolidated Subdivision)
OECD "predominantly rural regions" definition
(Census Division)
Ehrensaft's "Beale codes"
(Census Division)
* Results for these areas of geography could conceivably be derived from postal codes if respondent confidentiality is ensured.



Data Elements:
  • Demography
  • Education, Literacy, Training
  • Smoking behaviours, habits, consumption and attitudes of Canadians

Notes:
Two microdata files are available for this survey - one for the household level information and one for the person level information.


The objective of this survey differs from that of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS). Because the NPHS collects data every two years and releases the data about a year after completing the collection cycle, it does not meet Health Canada's need for continuous coverage in time, rapid delivery of data, or sufficient detail of the most at-risk populations, namely 15-24 year olds.

The questionnaire design for this survey borrows heavily from the 1994 Survey on Smoking in Canada. Some questions have been added for consistency with international surveys which use the concept of smoking behaviour "in the last 30 days".

Changes in smoking prevalence of about 3% or higher will be detectable on an annual basis, within age groups at the national level.

Reports and fact sheets from the different cycles of this survey can be found at the following website:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/research/ctums/

For more information, contact Tobacco Control Programme, Health Canada.
TCP-PLT-CTUMS-ESUTC@hc-sc.gc.ca

This area contains documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). To view documents in PDF, you will need the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, which can be downloaded from the Adobe website.