Statistics Canada links seven CHMS cycles to administrative health records for longitudinal research

Statistics Canada has released a new linked research dataset that combines all seven cycles of the Canadian Health Measures Survey with selected administrative health data, giving approved researchers a broader way to study Canadians’ health over time.

The release, published Friday in Statistics Canada’s Daily under the title “Integrating the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) and administrative data for use in Statistics Canada's research data centres,” brings together CHMS physical measures and biomarker data with administrative records that can be used to track later health outcomes. Statistics Canada said the linked files will allow researchers to examine how directly measured health characteristics are associated with cancer incidence, hospitalization, emergency department use, mental health service use, survival and mortality.

That matters because the CHMS is not a standard questionnaire-only survey. It is Canada’s main national direct-measures health survey, run by Statistics Canada with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, and it collects measured health information including height, weight, blood pressure and laboratory biomarkers from blood and urine. In Cycle 7, the survey also included DXA scans, a type of body composition and bone-density imaging. Statistics Canada also maintains a biobank tied to the survey program. The new linked resource covers Cycle 1, conducted from 2007 to 2009, through Cycle 7, conducted from 2022 to 2024.

Because the survey includes measured biomarkers and physical health data rather than relying only on self-reports, it gives researchers a stronger baseline for studying whether specific health indicators are later linked to disease, health-system use or death. The new dataset is designed for that kind of longitudinal work, meaning researchers can follow participants over time rather than analyze a single snapshot.

The files are not being released publicly. Instead, they will be made available through Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centres, or RDCs, which are secure facilities — often based at universities — where approved researchers can work with confidential microdata under strict rules. Statistics Canada said privacy protections remain in place under the Statistics Act, which governs the agency’s handling of confidential information. As the agency’s project description states: “De-identified linked files will be placed in the Research Data Centres (RDCs), and access to these files will be granted following the application process and guidelines for the RDCs.”

The release builds on earlier CHMS linkage work. Statistics Canada had previously linked earlier survey cycles to sources including the Canadian Cancer Registry, the Vital Statistics — Death Database and hospitalization data. The new release extends that work to all seven CHMS cycles through 2024, creating a broader national resource for approved researchers studying how measured health status connects to later outcomes.