STDs and Relationships - Current Data

Question
A researcher is looking for the most recent survey microdata on STD diagnosis broken down by type of STD, even if only HIV/AIDS together with type of relationship &/or partners data. She is aware she might be using master files.

The researcher has found the first two cycles of the NPHS (Health Component), but requires more recent data. She has explored the CCHS, but its yes/no question on a STD (s) is not detailed enough. I don’t think the Canadian Health Measures Survey covers infection markers much beyond hepatitis? We searched http://www120.statcan.gc.ca/dli/e2/var?fq but so far, we haven’t had much luck. Could you please advise us whether we have missed anything?

Answer
“Below is an article (females) which contains some info on STI’s (table 5).
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14324-eng.htm

PHAC has a lot of information on Sexually transmitted infections. www.phac-aspc.gc.ca

As well here is a link to CHMS info:
CHMS http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2013004/article/11777-eng.htm

Hope this info is of assistance.”

Household Pets

Question

I have some researchers looking for information on household pets both nationally and in Sarnia/Lambton. They would like to know:

- Stats related to what kind of pets people have and how many in each household
- Age related statistics of who is likely to adopt a pet
- Household expenditures on pets, pet supplies, and veterinary services broken down by age group

I was able to find information on the expenditures so far but I’m coming close to the deadline and am still searching for the rest.

Answer

I found this on the Does Statistics Canada collect this information? page that may be of some assistance:

“Pets, cats, dogs, stray animals, animal cruelty
Statistics Canada does not collect data on the number of pets (including cats and dogs) or stray animals in Canada. We do not collect data on animal cruelty or animal testing.

Statistics Canada has information on the following:

• pet expenses as a part of household spending
• livestock/farm animals
• aquaculture/fish farming
• ethical consumption

Some resources include
2011 Census of Agriculture
ARCHIVED – Spending patterns in Canada (See Tables 1, 2 and 4)
ARCHIVED – Ethical consumption

See also
For more information, see the following subjects:
Livestock and aquaculture
Food and nutrition
Natural resources”

Unfortunately, you may be out of luck, as far as STC goes. On the page
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/help/collection#a6
it states "Statistics Canada does not collect data on the number of pets (including cats and dogs) or stray animals in Canada."

This might be of use to you:
Consumer Corner: Canadian Pet Market Outlook, 2014
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sis14914

Files with pet information (not going down to the Sarnia/Lambton unless go to the RDC, and then only MAYBE):

General Social Survey, 2010 [Canada]: Cycle 24, Time-Stress and Well-Being. Main file: 4 edition

DUR6712	Total duration (minutes): animal and pet care for non-household pets
EPI6712	Occurences of animal and pet care including care for non-household pets

Household Internet Use Survey, 2003 (and 2002 and 2001) [Canada]

HUQ27S09

Household Internet use: pets

National Population Health Survey, 1994-1995 [Canada]: General file (and Health and Supplements files)

PETS	Is there a pet in this household
KINDPETG	What kind of pet - grouped

Mental Health Stats (BC)

Question

I received the following request for statistics/data today while I was away at a Conference. I am not sure how to find all the requested bits and pieces. The Canadian Community Health Survey, cycle 1.2, 2002 (Mental Health) has some data, but does not offer all the data requested.

I am doing research on mental illness and parenting. Do you have any data/statistics on the following: 1. Number/percentage of people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or major depression in B.C. from 2005 to 2010 if available? 2. Hospitalizations in B.C. with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or Major depression who have children from 2005-2010 if available? 3. Number of grandparents looking after grandchildren in B.C. due to their daughter/son illness (2005-2010) 4. parental illness and loss of custody in B.C. 2005-2010 5. Parents with mental illness whose children are apprehended or in the care of the Ministry of Children and families Development.

Any information would be appreciated

Answer

For question 1 ("Number/percentage of people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or major depression in B.C. from 2005 to 2010 if available?"), your client may be interested in the provincial-level CANSIM tables on mood disorders (an aggregate) that are available through StatCan's Health Indicators publication (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-221-x/2009001/tblstructure/1hs/1hc/hc1mdx-eng.htm). The data in these tables are from CCHS and cover 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008. The CCHS PUMFs may also be of interest to your client. 2007, 2008 are the latest years for which data are available from this survey. The "How Healthy Are Canadians? Annual Report 2004" publication (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=82-003-S2004000) focused on mental health and may also be of interest. The National Population Health Survey includes a mental health module but the most recent file is for 2006/2007. NPSH-related products can be accessed via the Links to related products section on the left side bar of http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3225&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2. The survey is also available in the RDCs and data may be available on a custom basis.

For question 2 ("Hospitalizations in B.C. with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or Major depression who have children from 2005-2010 if available?") I would recommend looking into the data available from CIHI. According to the Definitions, data sources and methods section of the StatCan website (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3204&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2): "As of the 1994/95 data year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) assumed the data collection and dissemination responsibilities for Mental Health Statistics. (...) The annual information presently collected by this program provides data on separation (discharges) from psychiatric hospitals and general hospitals for inpatients being treated for mental disorders." Your provincial health department and mental health-related associations may also disseminate data on these topics.

For question 3, 4 and 5, your client may wish to look into the custody-related data available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY; http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4450&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2). We have NLSCY synthetic files in the DLI collection (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/nlscy-elnej-eng.htm) that can be used to prepare for a visit to an RDC or to request data through remote job submission (the data in these synthetic files are "synthetic/dummy" data that can't be used for analytical purposes). NLSCY data on this topic may also be available for a fee on a custom basis. If this is of interest to your client, I would be pleased to refer you to an Account-Executive in our Vancouver office who could confirm what data could be disseminated as a custom table and at what cost. You may also wish to look into what data that might be available from provincial ministries.

I hope that these suggestions are helpful. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.

Survey Data Related to Risks of Early Motherhood

Question

A researcher here at York is interested in information on experiences of motherhood among adolescent girls in child welfare and or youth justice. Specifically, she is interested in recent survey data dealing with risks and health outcomes of early motherhood for this vulnerable population. We spent some time searching this morning, looking for these kinds of data, and managed to find some elements of it in the CCHS and NPHS, but nothing quite like what she really wants. Since it's entirely possible we missed something, is there someone in STC with whom she could discuss this in greater detail?

Answer

To the best of my knowledge, StatCan hasn't published or collected data on this specific topic. We have a number of publications on teenage pregnancy and its outcomes but these aren't specifically on adolescent girls in child welfare and youth services. The following articles and reference guide are the closest matches as I know of and may be of interest to the researcher. If she has specific questions about these publications and the data on which they are based, I would be pleased to consult the authors and divisions that published these products to obtain additional information for her or refer her to them directly if this would be more helpful.

Teenage pregnancy: Guide to the latest information
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/search-recherche/bb/info/3000020-eng.htm

The reference guide includes links to these publications:

Life after teenage motherhood
Perspectives on Labour and Income, May 2008, Catalogue no. 75-001-XWE, Vol. 9, No. 5.

Second or subsequent births to teenagers
Health Reports, February 2007, Catalogue no. 82-003-XWE, Vol. 18, No. 1.

Teenage pregnancy
Health Reports, Winter 2000, Catalogue no. 82-003-XIE, Vol. 12, No. 1.

I will have a closer look at the documentation for a few more surveys to see if I can locate sources that would cover this specific topic and will follow up with more information shortly.

Mental Health Stats (BC)

Question

I received the following request for statistics/data today while I was away at a Conference. I am not sure how to find all the requested bits and pieces. The Canadian Community Health Survey, cycle 1.2, 2002 (Mental Health) has some data, but does not offer all the data requested.

"I am doing research on mental illness and parenting. Do you have any data/statistics on the following:

1) Number/percentage of people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or major depression in B.C. from 2005 to 2010 if available?

2) Hospitalizations in B.C. with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or Major depression who have children from 2005-2010 if available?

3) Number of grandparents looking after grandchildren in B.C. due to their daughter/son illness (2005-2010)

4) Parental illness and loss of custody in B.C. 2005-2010

5) Parents with mental illness whose children are apprehended or in the care of the Ministry of Children and families Development.

Any information would be appreciated"


Answer

For question 1 ("Number/percentage of people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or major depression in B.C. from 2005 to 2010 if available?"), your client may be interested in the provincial-level CANSIM tables on mood disorders (an aggregate) that are available through StatCan's Health Indicators publication

(http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-221-x/2009001/tblstructure/1hs/1hc/hc1mdx-eng.htm).

The data in these tables are from CCHS and cover 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008. The CCHS PUMFs may also be of interest to your client. 2007, 2008 are the latest years for which data are available from this survey. The "How Healthy Are Canadians? Annual Report 2004" publication

(http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=82-003-S2004000)

focused on mental health and may also be of interest. The National Population Health Survey includes a mental health module but the most recent file is for 2006/2007. NPSH-related products can be accessed via the Links to related products section on the left side bar of

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3225?=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2.

The survey is also available in the RDCs and data may be available on a custom basis.

For question 2 ("Hospitalizations in B.C. with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, or Major depression who have children from 2005-2010 if available?") I would recommend looking into the data available from CIHI. According to the Definitions, data sources and methods section of the StatCan website

(http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3204?=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2):

"As of the 1994/95 data year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) assumed the data collection and dissemination responsibilities for Mental Health Statistics. (...) The annual information presently collected by this program provides data on separation (discharges) from psychiatric hospitals and general hospitals for inpatients being treated for mental disorders." Your provincial health department and mental health-related associations may also disseminate data on these topics.

For question 3, 4 and 5, your client may wish to look into the custody-related data available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth

(NLSCY; http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4450?=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2).

We have NLSCY synthetic files in the DLI collection (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/nlscy-elnej-eng.htm) that can be used to prepare for a visit to an RDC or to request data through remote job submission (the data in these synthetic files are "synthetic/dummy" data that can't be used for analytical purposes). NLSCY data on this topic may also be available for a fee on a custom basis. If this is of interest to your client, I would be pleased to refer you to an Account-Executive in our Vancouver office who could confirm what data could be disseminated as a custom table and at what cost. You may also wish to look into what data that might be available from provincial ministries.

I hope that these suggestions are helpful. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.

Longitudinal Food Insecurity or Food Poverty Candian Survey

Question

A researcher at MRU mentioned that they were looking for a Canadian longitudinal food insecurity or food poverty survey... Does anyone know if such as survey exists, please? Or can the researcher use one of our already existing  DLI surveys?

Answer

Variables related to food insecurity are available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/nlscy-elnej-eng.htm) and the National Population Health Survey (NPHS - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/nphs-ensp-eng.htm).

However, in order to protect respondents from the disclosure of their identity, recent PUMFs from these surveys aren't available in the DLI collection (they stop in 1998-1999).  If the researcher wishes to use these surveys, he/she could use the synthetic files that are in the DLI collection and request data through remote job submission (important note: Synthetic files contain modified data and must never be used for analytical purposes. The synthetic files should not be used for purposes other than to develop and test the computer programs that are to be submitted by remote job submission.) or access the master files in the Research Data Centres (RDCs).

Other surveys like the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) (and CCHS 2.2 and 3.1 in particular) also include variables on food insecurity.

To quickly browse these variables, you could access the StatCan Nesstar site (www62.statcan.ca) and do an Advanced Search for variables containing the word "food".

I hope that these suggestions are helpful.

Kidney Diseases

I received the following question off-list and am sharing it as it may be of interest to others.

Question:

"I have an upper undergrad looking for statistics on kidney diseases and/or hemodialysis on the provincial level. Have searched CANSIM and found Table 102-0563 Leading Causes of Death (prov), Table 102-0534 Diseases of the Genitourinary System (at Canada level), as well as tables for primary sites of cancer, including kidney. (CIHI has some info). Is there somewhere else I should look?"


Answer:

"You seem to have found most of the products we have on this topic.
You can locate a few more CANSIM tables that have statistics on kidney related cancer/diseases or deaths by running a search for "kidney" in CANSIM (use the search box in the middle of the screen): http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/CNSMCGI.pgm?LANG=Eng&Dir-Rep=CII/&CNSM-Fi=CII/CII_1-eng.htm .

Some of our older National Population Health Survey (NPHS) public use microdata files seem to have a province of residence variable and variables dealing with kidney disease or cancer. You student may want to have a look at these if he/she wishes to work with microdata. For example:

National Population Health Survey, 1998-1999: Household Component - Health file
FH_8_16H Mother's type of cancer - kidney
FH_8_26D Father's type of cancer - kidney
FH_8_36H Sister's type of cancer - kidney
FH_8_38D Brother's type of cancer - kidney

National Population Health Survey, 1996-1997: Health Institutions Component file:
CCI6_1Q Suffers from kidney failure or disease

National Population Health Survey, 1994-1995: Health Institutions Component file:
CHRQ44_P Kidney failure, disease diagnosed by health professional

(The more recent NPHS synthetic files in our collection may have similar variables but the student couldn't use the data they contain for analysis and would need to have the data extracted through our Health Statistics Division by remote job submission. The synthetic NPHS files in our collection could only be used by the student to run and test the programs that would be run in Ottawa by the author division.)

As you have noted, CIHI has quite a few recent provincial-level statistics on kidney related diseases on their website (http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=statistics_results_topic_dialysis_e&cw_topic=Health%20Conditions&cw_subtopic=Dialysis).

The Canadian Health Measures Survey (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5071?=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2) seems to include at least one question on kidney diseases (OHR_Q23 Do you have kidney disease that requires dialysis?) but this data doesn't appear to have been released at this time."

NPHS Cycle 7 Synthetic Files

Question

Is there any information as to when the NPHS cycle 7 synthetic files may be released to DLI?

Answer

The NPHS team has indicated that they are hoping to get us the NPHS 7 Cycle 7 synthetic files towards the end of December.

Updated Products - NPHS / HES

National Population Health Survey (NPHS) Cycle 6, 2004-2005 - Synthetic Files

The National Population Health Survey was designed to collect information on the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic information.

It is important to note that these synthethic files do not contain real data and should never be used for analytical purposes. Their only purpose is to assist users to develop and test the computer programs that are to be submitted by remote job submission.

WEB: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/nphs/nphssynthetic.htm
FTP: /ftp/dli/nphs/Synthetic_Files-Dummy_files

**************

Households and the Environment Survey -- 2006 PUMF

The Household Environment Survey (HES) measures the environmental practices and behaviours of Canadian households that relate to the condition of our air, water and soils. The survey was also design to collect data to develop and improve three key environmental indicators: air quality, water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

WEB: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/hes.htm
FTP: /ftp/dli/hes/2006

Health survey data linkage

Question

A UBC researcher is interested in the fact that the National Population Health Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey both contain questions in the final administrative section as to whether respondents are willing to allow linking to their recorded use of provincial health services and whether they are willing to permit sharing the survey data with the province. The researcher is specifically interested in knowing the percentage of respondents who agree to this for each survey. She used the term 'data linkage permission rates.'

Is this something that can be found?

Answer

The percentage of respondents who agree to share varies according to the survey and the cycle, but in general, around 95% of them agree. Then, for the percentage of respondents who agree to link, about 95% of these who agreed to share say "yes" to the question. Note that the data for these questions are in the confidential files (Master and Share), not the PUMF. If the researcher is interested to access these files, please inform him of the usual ways (RDCs, remote, custom tabs, etc.).

Several questions re: NPHS and CCHS

Questions

NPHS

1. The IMDB entry explains that "The NPHS Cycle 3 (1998-1999) cross-sectional sample contains all members of the NPHS longitudinal sample and 2 top-up samples." So does this mean that the cross-sectional data from each cycle is gathered from the same "longitudinal" respondents each time (plus the top-up, and minus the longitudinal non-respondents, during the 2nd and 3rd cycles)?

2. Am I correct in understanding that the NPHS cross-sectional data is available for three cycles, 94/95 to 98/99, only? And that this is what I'm able to access through the DLI ftp server?

3. Is the longitudinal data available only through the RDCs?

4. Is the NPHS still an active survey? From what I've read it seems the cross-sectional part was conducted for 3 cycles, but I see reference to Cycle 4 and 5 in the longitudinal description in the IMDB. Cycle 5 was 2002/2003, and I don't see any reference to the survey being administered since then. I also read that "These same persons will be interviewed every two years over a period of 18 years i.e. 10 cycles." So should I be expecting to see Cycles 6-10 in the future? Or has something changed for this survey?

CCHS
1. What is the main difference between these two surveys? I once thought that the CCHS was the successor of the NPHS but I'm not sure where I got that idea, as I haven't seen it anywhere in the documentation. The objectives of the surveys seems very similar though.

2. The IMDB says that "only cross-sectional data are available on such files [the PUMFs], because longitudinal information can lead to the identification of respondents." I don't see any other references to longitudinal data for the CCHS - is there a longitudinal component? The description of sampling methods for 2.1 appears to be the same type of sampling as for 1.1, and doesn't say that it's using the same respondents as 1.1. Am I missing something? And if there is longitudinal data, is that only available through the RDCs?

Answer

Answer to NPHS Question 1:
The best way to understand the samples is to look at the table found in IMDB:
http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3236&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2
Go under the section: SAMPLING.

Answer to NPHS Question 2&3:
Yes.

Answer to NPHS Question 4:
Yes it is still active, will publish results of cycle 6 longitudinal in September. Still cycles 7, 8, 9 , 10 to do.

Answer to CCHS Question 1:
Yes, the CCHS took the cross-sectional component of the NPHS. So the CCHS is cross-sectional only, and has small geography and a big sample, NPHS is strictly longitudinal, has a small sample of a panel of respondents, and is provincial. They complement each other.

Answer to CCHS Question 2:
CCHS is strictly cross-sectional. Having the same sampling methods from one cycle to the other does not mean it is longitudinal. The big difference is the people: are they the same or not? In NPHS it is the SAME respondents every cycle, for CCHS they are always DIFFERENT.

NPHS supplement

Question

I have a grad student looking for the Nutrition Supplement Survey for thefollowing years:
1994-1995
1996-1997
1998-1999
2000-2001
2002-2003
2004-2005

In the StatCan online catalogue it lists supplements of NPHS as being available to DLI members.

http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=82M0018S

Is this still the case? If so, can we obtain these files for our student?

I do see the 1994-1995 supplemental files on the ftp site but those are the only ones available.

Is this a matter of custom tab or RDC as options for receiving the data?

Answer

First, there was never any supplement on nutrition in either of our surveys. We did have something related to nutrition but it is the Food Insecurity Supplement of the NPHS, and it was done as a one-time special survey in 1996-1997. This Supplement was sponsored by Human Resource Development Canada to help them in developing policies. The file was never released as a public use microdata file, unfortunately, and is available on request in Research Data Centers.

Second, we recently published the CCHS - Nutrition - General Health component, which is focused on nutrition. The Public file will be available at the end of November, and is also available in request in Research Data Centers.

NPHS 2002-2003 documentation

Question

I have a user looking for documentation pertaining to the 2002-2003 longitudinal National Population Health Survey study. Is there any way we can obtain this? Or does the user have to contact the RDCs directly?

Answer

Check here:

http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS
=3225&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2#4

Time Series Statistics on Depression, Stress, Anxiety

Question

A patron wants time series on this topic going back roughly 30 years. The NPHS, CCHS and GSS don't provide such a long time stretch, and neither does CANSIM. Any suggestions?

Answers

1) Others might have a better idea, but we've used the hospitalization statistics in 83-245 for depression and affective disorders. The data are not inclusive by any means, but offer a bit of a stable indicator (okay, that might be a stretch). The data are continued on CIHI's site under hospitalizations as an interactive table, if memory serves.

2) The other alternative is to go with the microdata. The Canada health survey 1978/79 (available from DLI) contains standard depression indicators, as does the Social Change in Canada survey, 1977-1979-1981 (available from ISR/York), which would take you back to almost 30 years ago.

Adults with Living Grandparents

Question

I have a grad student who is looking for Canadian stats on adults who have living grandparents. The only place I have found that deals with this is cycle 5 of the General Social Survey. Has anyone run across this kind of statistic elsewhere?

Answer

The National Population Health Survey has the following variables:

nphs94h SUP_Q7B PAST YEAR CONTACT WITH : GRANDPARENTS
nphs9697h SSC6_7B FREQUENCY OF CONTACT WITH GRANDPARENTS

I found these using the keyword "grandparent* " in the question-text index at URL:
http://db.library.queensu.ca/allvars/

GSS 17 has a variable, multigen that identifies families with three or more generations living in the household.

Each of these files has a multi-generation family variable:
General Social Survey of Canada, 1995 - Cycle 10: Family. Main File
General Social Survey of Canada, 1998 - Cycle 12: Time use main file
General Social Survey of Canada, 1999 - Cycle 13: Victimization main file
General Social Survey of Canada, 2000 - Cycle 14: Access to and use of Information Communication Technology
General Social Survey of Canada, 2001 - Cycle 15: Family History (Main File)
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, 1992/1993: person file
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, 1992-1994: longitudinal person file

These ones have grandpar*:
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycle 1. 1994/1995: Primary file - variable AA1CQ08G
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycle 3 (1998-1999): Self-adminstered questionnaire file - variable CFFCQ08G
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, 1992/1993: person file