Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, 2008: Annual, Household File

The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) was conducted by Statistics Canada with the cooperation and support of Health Canada. Statistics Canada has conducted smoking surveys on an ad hoc basis on behalf of Health Canada since the 1960s. These surveys have been done as supplements to the Canadian Labour Force Survey and as random digit dialling telephone surveys. In February 1994, a change in legislation was passed which allowed a reduction in cigarette taxes. Since there was no survey data from immediately before this legislative change, it was difficult for Health Canada or other interested analysts to measure exactly the impact of the change. As Health Canada wants to be able to monitor the consequences of legislative changes and anti-smoking policies on smoking behaviour, the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) was designed to provide Health Canada and its partners/stakeholders with continual and reliable data on tobacco use and related issues. Since 1999, two CTUMS files have been released every year: a file with data collected from February to June and a file with the July to December data. Additionally, there is also a yearly summary. The present file covers the period from February to June 2008. The primary objective of the survey is to provide a continuous supply of smoking prevalence data against which changes in prevalence can be monitored. This objective differs from that of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) which collects smoking data from a longitudinal sample to measure which individuals are changing their smoking behaviour, the possible factors which contribute to change, and the possible risk factors related to starting smoking and smoking duration. 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 to 24 year olds. The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey allows Health Canada to look at smoking prevalence by province-sex-age group, for age groups 15 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 and over, on a semi-annual and annual basis. Data will continue to be collected on an on-going basis depending on availability of funds.