Canadian Health Measures Survey: Medication use and nutrient intake, 2012 and 2013
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Released: 2015-10-20
Results from the 2012 and 2013 Canadian Health Measures Survey show that 73.5% of Canadians aged 3 to 79 took at least one medication (prescription or over-the-counter) or health product in the week prior to their visit to the clinic.
Of these individuals, 62.8% reported that the medication or health product they took contained one or more of the following nutrients: calcium, folic acid, iodine, iron, magnesium, omega-3, omega-6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D or zinc.
Of the nutrients listed above, Canadians (aged 3 to 79) were most likely to take a medication or health product containing vitamin D (21.9%), closely followed by vitamin B12 (21.1%). Children and youth aged 3 to 19 were more likely than adults (aged 20 to 79) to take a medication or health product containing vitamin B12 or vitamin D, while adults were more likely to take calcium, iron, magnesium, omega-3 or zinc.
When comparing genders, females (aged 3 to 79) were more likely to take a medication or health product containing calcium, vitamin B12 or vitamin C than males of the same age group.
Note to readers
The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) is a two-step survey. The first step is a personal interview at the respondent's household. The second step is a visit to the CHMS mobile clinic where physical measurements and blood and urine samples are taken.
The CHMS was conducted from January 2012 to December 2013.
The geometric mean is a type of average that is less influenced by extreme values than the traditional arithmetic mean. The geometric mean provides a better estimate of central tendency for highly skewed data.
Information on the amount of a given nutrient in a medication or health product was determined from Health Canada's Drug Product Database and the Licensed Natural Health Products Database.
Additional information on daily nutrient intake is available from the Health Canada website.
Products
This release includes an update to the medication file that was previously released on February 18, 2015, and that contained collected information from the household and clinic questionnaires on self-reported medication use. The file has been updated to now include collected and derived information for a subset of respondents who reported taking a prescription or over-the-counter medication or other health product containing one of the following active ingredients: calcium, folic acid, iodine, iron, magnesium, omega-3, omega-6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D or zinc.
Weight files and instructions are available for combining cycle 3 Canadian Health Measures Survey data (where possible) with equivalent data from cycle 1 and/or cycle 2.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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