Statistics Canada’s innovative health measures survey arrives in Montréal. Hundreds of randomly selected residents from southwest Montréal will begin participating in household interviews August 4 as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). Afterwards, they will visit the Statistics Canada mobile clinic set up at the Douglas Institute from the third week of August until late September.

A number of conditions applied to the site selection, including a maximum respondent travel distance of 75 km within each site, and a population of at least 10,000 per site.

About 420 residents from southwest Montréal were randomly selected. Statistics Canada interviewers will ask general questions on health (diet, medical history, health status) and lifestyle. In some randomly selected households, they will also take samples of tap water that will be analyzed in a laboratory to detect the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and fluoride.

The mobile clinic will open its doors August 21 in the parking lot of the Institute for a period of about five weeks. However, the trailers will be present on the site from July 22 until October 23.

Only residents who are randomly selected can participate in the survey. Those who choose to participate in both stages of the survey will receive a report on their physical measurements and tests and the results of their laboratory tests.

Data from the third cycle of the CHMS will be released beginning in the fall of 2014.

Additional information on the CHMS is available.