NHIS

The Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health

Overview

The Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health (JCUSH) was a research study conducted jointly by the National Center for Health Statistics and Statistics Canada. Data collection began in November 2002 and ended in March 2003. The JCUSH was a one-time, random telephone survey in both countries. Approximately 3,500 Canadian and 5,200 U.S. residents participated in the study. The survey used the same questionnaire and methodology in both countries.

The survey obtained information about:

  • Health status
  • Limitation of activities
  • Asthma, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and depression
  • Contact with mental health professionals
  • Smoking
  • Height and weight
  • Health care utilization
  • Use of prescription medications
  • Pap smear test and mammography
  • Dental visits
  • Insurance, including single service plans
  • Patient satisfaction
  • Physical activities

Questions about the survey’s background and content may be directed to NCHS/CDC Public Affairs, (301) 458-4800

Reports

Data Use Agreement

Users of US data files must adhere to the following guidelines:

Strict procedures are used to prevent disclosure of confidential data in survey operations and data dissemination. Any effort to determine the identity of any reported case is prohibited by the Public Health Service Act. Statistics Canada and NCHS do all they can to ensure that the identity of data subjects cannot be disclosed. All direct identifiers, as well as any characteristics that might lead to identification, are omitted from the data files. Any intentional identification or disclosure of a person or establishment violates the assurances of confidentiality given to the providers of the information. Therefore, users of the U.S. data files will:

  • Use the data in these data files for statistical reporting and analysis only.
  • Make no use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director of NCHS of any such discovery (301-458-4500).
  • Not link these data files with individually identifiable data from other NCHS or non-NCHS data files.

By using the U.S. data files, data users signify their agreement to comply with the above-stated statutorily based requirements.

Users of the Canadian data files must adhere to the following guidelines:

The Microdata file is being provided for statistical and research purposes.

In any publication of any information based on this Microdata file, the following form of accreditation should be used:

“This analysis is based on Joint Canada/United States Survey of Heath public use microdata file, sponsored by Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics, which contains anonymized data. All computations on these microdata were prepared by (Name of user organization) and the responsibility for the use and interpretation of these data is entirely that of the author(s).”

Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health Dataset

Page last reviewed: November 6, 2015