Canadian Community Health Survey: Rapid response on antibiotic medication use, 2018

The data were collected from all provinces from January to June 2018 as part of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CCHS is an annual population health survey that provides insight into the health conditions and behaviours of the Canadian population. Residents of Indian reserves are excluded from the survey's coverage, therefore the numbers reflect First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit. Other exclusions are health care institutions, some remote areas, and full-time members of the Canadian Forces (living on or off military bases). The full 2018 CCHS data will be released mid-2019.

This module collects information about the use of oral antibiotics that are prescribed in Canada. In this module, oral antibiotic prescriptions include those prescribed by physicians and pharmacists, and those received in a hospital for later use. It excludes antibiotics that are administered to patients while they are in the hospital.

Data collected by this module include: the number of prescriptions per respondent and the medical reason for the prescription; the place the prescription originated (e.g., physician's office, pharmacy, dentist); whether or not the respondent took the medication as prescribed; and ways of discarding leftover antibiotics.

The rapid response data are now available in the Research Data Centres.

The addition of these questions to the CCHS was done in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada.