Linkage of the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition 2004 to routinely collected mortality records

National health surveys and vital statistics registries are the cornerstones of surveillance, monitoring and policy development in most developed countries. This cohort profile describes the linkage of the Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition (2004) to the Canadian Vital Statistics - Death Database (2011). Further, the authors demonstrate how these data can be used in terms of potential analysis strategies, and discuss their strengths and limitations-considerations that could apply to any national nutrition survey worldwide.