Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS): 2020 definitions
Prevalence
The proportion of a group or population reporting the indicated behaviour or outcome, usually expressed as a percentage.
Study sample
A group drawn from a larger population to estimate the characteristics of the whole population.
Statistically significant
The observed relationship between two or more variables is unlikely due to chance alone.
Weighted results
Weighting is the statistical technique used to allow the study sample to be representative of the target population; in other words, any participant's response is weighted so that it represents a specific number of identical responses in the target population.
95% confidence interval
Provides a range of values in which the estimated prevalence will fall 95% of the time (i.e., if the survey was repeated 20 times, the results would fall within this range 19 of those times, or 19 times out of 20).
Current Smoking
Includes people who smoke daily and people who smoke occasionally, determined from the responses to the question "During the past 30 days, how often did you smoke cigarettes?"
Daily Smoking
Refers to those who respond "daily" to the question "During the past 30 days, how often did you smoke cigarettes?"
Occasional Smoking
Refers to those who respond "less than daily, but at least once a week" or "less than once a week, but at least once in the past month" to the question "During the past 30 days, how often did you smoke cigarettes?"
Former Smoking
Refers to those who respond "not at all" to the question "During the past 30 days, how often did you smoke cigarettes?" and "yes" to the question "Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes (about 4 packs) in your life?"
People who have quit recently
Refers to people who formerly smoked who quit smoking less than one year prior to the survey, determined by their response to the question "When did you stop smoking cigarettes?"
Never Smoking
Refers to those who respond "not at all" to the question "During the past 30 days, how often did you smoke cigarettes?" and "no" to the question "Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes (about 4 packs) in your life?" or “no” to the question "Have you ever smoked a whole cigarette?"
Ever Smoking
Refers to people who currently smoke and people who formerly smoked combined.
E-Cigarettes
Are battery-operated devices that mimic the act of smoking cigarettes but do not contain tobacco. E-cigarettes include vaporizers with e-juice, vape pen, tank, or mod and are available with or without nicotine.
Tobacco products
Are products made in whole or in part of tobacco, including tobacco leaves. This includes cigarettes (including roll-your-own), cigars, little cigars or cigarillos, chewing tobacco, and waterpipe tobacco. E-cigarettes are excluded.
Quit attempt
The number of times a person stopped smoking or vaping for one day or longer because they were trying to quit.
