Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey 2004 (CTUMS)

Summary of Results for the first half of 2004 (February to June)

Overview

According to the latest results from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS), for data collected between February and June 2004, just over 5 million people, representing 20% of the population age 15 years and older, were current smokers, of which 15% reported smoking daily. This is similar to the rate for the first half of 2003 (20% for current smoking and 16% for daily smoking). Approximately 23% of men age 15 years and older were current smokers, slightly higher than the proportion of women (17%).

Statistics Canada, which conducts CTUMS on behalf of Health Canada, has advised that this wave (February to June 2004) experienced a lower response rate than usual. This has resulted in a smaller number of individuals included in the survey than usual and, as a result, caution is required in the interpretation of the findings.

Youth Age 15-19 Years

Among youth 15-19 years, the rate of smoking was 20% in the first half of 2004 with 12% reporting daily smoking and 8% occasional smoking. This is a slight increase¹ from 18% for the first half of 2003 which was its lowest point. However, differences found in the estimates are due to the variable nature of the data and are not statistically significant. Slightly more¹ teen boys (21%) reported smoking than girls (19%).

Young Adults Age 20-24 Years

The prevalence of smoking among young adults age 20-24 years was reported at 27% for the first half of 2004 (19% daily, 8% occasional), slightly decreased¹ from the 2003 rate (30%). A greater proportion of males (30%) age 20-24 years continue to report smoking than females (24%).¹

Consumption of Cigarettes and Type

The general trend continued in the decline of the number of cigarettes smoked each day. Currently the average number of cigarettes smoked per day by daily smokers is 15.3. Men continued to smoke more cigarettes than women:16.9 cigarettes per day for males as compared to 13.2 for females. The vast majority of Canadian smokers (61%) reported consuming some type of "light" or "mild" cigarette, compared to 39% who smoke a "regular" type of cigarette.

Smoking in the Provinces

The smoking rate across the provinces continues to be varied. The rate of current smoking ranged from 16% to 24%. The percentage of smokers consuming some type of "light" or "mild' cigarettes ranged from 70% to 44% across the provinces.

Urban and Rural Smoking

For the first time, data are available on the community characteristics of individuals. Slightly fewer¹ urban dwellers smoke than rural residents; 24% of rural residents are smokers as are 19% of urban residents. There is a difference regarding smoking in the workplace, 55% of rural residents work in places with complete restrictions on smoking as opposed to 71% of urban residents.

Smoking restrictions in the workplace

For the first half of 2004, 69% of workers had complete smoking restrictions in their workplace with 18% of workers having smoking allowed in designated areas at work. Fewer youth (aged 15-19) work in jobs with complete restrictions on smoking. Overall, the percentage of people in workplaces with complete smoking restrictions increases with age from 61% of 15 to 19 year olds to 71% of those 45 years and older.

Smoking in the home

In the first half of 2004, 17% of Canadian households had at least one person who smoked inside the home everyday or almost everyday. For those households without someone regularly smoking inside their home, 83% did not allow smoking in their home. Thirty six percent of households which did allow smoking in the home, or had someone regularly smoking in the home, placed some restrictions on it such as: only in certain rooms, not around young children, or only with a window open or other ventilation. Twelve percent of children under the age of 12 (485,000 children) are regularly exposed to second hand smoke at home, a reduction from 26% (1.1 million children) in 1999.

Opinions on smoking restrictions

When asked their opinion, more than half (56%) of all Canadians age 15 years and older stated that smoking should not be allowed in any section of a restaurant and a third (35%) agreed that it should not be allowed in any section of a bar or tavern. This represents an increase from the first half of 2003, when 48% had stated that smoking should not be allowed in restaurants.

Reference Information

CTUMS was developed to provide Health Canada and its partners with timely, reliable, and continual data on tobacco use and related issues. The survey's primary objective is to track changes in smoking status and amount smoked, especially for 15-24-year-olds, who are most at risk for taking up smoking. Wave 1, 2004 CTUMS collected data from over 8,800 respondents from February to June 2004. The overall margin of error for the smoking rate for Canada is +/- 1.8%. We expect the true smoking prevalence for this population to be between 18.3% and 21.9%, 19 times out of 20.

Note that when comparing results across different data releases of CTUMS, Health Canada advises that it is more accurate and reliable to compare results from one wave with those of other waves and to compare annual results with other annual results.

For more information about the survey and/or its results, please write the Tobacco Control Programme, Office of Research, Surveillance and Evaluation, Health Canada, 123 Slater Street,
Address Locator 3507C, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0K9, or send an email request to TCP-PLT-questions@hc-sc.gc.ca, or visit Health Canada's Tobacco Control Programme website.

For information on the public-use microdata file, contact Statistics Canada's Client Services (1-800-461-9050; 613-951-3321; fax: 613-951-4527; ssd@statcan.ca), Special Surveys Division.

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¹ differences are not statistically significant

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