Canadian Community Health Survey, 2012: Annual Component

The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is a cross-sectional survey that collects information related to health status, health care utilization and health determinants for the Canadian population. It surveys a large sample of respondents and is designed to provide reliable estimates at the health region level. In 2007, major changes were made to the CCHS design. Data is now collected on an ongoing basis with annual releases, rather than every two years as was the case prior to 2007. The survey's objectives were also revised and are as follows: <br> <br> • support health surveillance programs by providing health data at the national, provincial and intra-provincial levels; <br> • provide a single data source for health research on small populations and rare characteristics; <br> • timely release of information easily accessible to a diverse community of users; and <br> • create a flexible survey instrument that includes a rapid response option to address emerging issues related to the health of the population. <br> <br> The CCHS data is always collected from persons aged 12 and over living in private dwellings in the 115 health regions covering all provinces and territories. Excluded from the sampling frame are individuals living on Indian Reserves and on Crown Lands, institutional residents, full-time members of the Canadian Forces, and residents of certain remote regions. The CCHS covers approximately 98% of the Canadian population aged 12 and over. <br> <br> The CCHS produces three types of microdata files: master files; share files; and public use microdata files (PUMF). The characteristics of each of these files are presented in the User Guide. The PUMF is released every two years and contains two years of data.