General health

CTADS respondents were asked to rate their own health. As shown in Figure 1.11, self-rated health varied significantly by smoking status: around half (52.5%) of current smokers reported “excellent” or “very good” health, compared to 58% of former smokers, and significantly lower than 69% of never smokers.¹⁹

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 1.11 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Self-rated general health, by smoking status, 2017
2017	Excellent	Very good	Good	Fair	Poor
Current smoker	20.0 [15.3-24.6]	32.5 [27.5-37.6]	33.9 [28.7-39.1]	9.7 [7.1-12.3]	3.9 [1.4-6.3]
Former smoker	19.7 [16.4-22.9]	38.2 [34.0-42.4]	30.9 [27.0-34.9]	8.1 [5.9-10.3]	3.1 [1.7-4.5]
Never smoker	29.9 [27.6-32.3]	39.5 [36.8-42.2]	24.1 [21.5-26.6]	5.7 [4.4-7.0]	0.8 [0.4-1.2]

Data source: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2017

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

The same pattern was observed among both males and females, with little variation from the overall estimates shown above in Figure 1.11 (data not shown).

Self-rated health varied by age; for all age groups except those aged 35-44, a significantly lower proportion of current smokers reported “excellent” or “very good” health, compared to never-smokers.^20-24 (Figure 1.12).

Figure 1.12 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Percentage of respondents reporting “excellent” or “very good” health, by age group and smoking status, 2017
2017	Current smoker	Former smoker	Never smoker
15-19	53.2 [44.3-62.0]	!	76.3 [73.9-78.7]
20-24	49.0 [41.5-56.4]	73.2 [61.3-85.1]	77.0 [74.3-79.7]
25-34	46.9 [30.3-63.6]	69.6 [54.2-85.0]	76.7 [70.0-83.4]
35-44	59.3 [46.5-72.1]	59.7 [48.1-71.3]	70.5 [62.8-78.3]
45+	52.9 [45.5-60.3]	55.9 [51.1-60.6]	62.2 [58.1-66.3]

! estimate suppressed due to unacceptable quality

Data source: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2017