Table of Contents

Component Description

The NHANES program suspended field operations in March 2020 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, data collection for the NHANES 2019-2020 cycle was not completed and the collected data are not nationally representative. Therefore, data collected from 2019 to March 2020 were combined with data from the NHANES 2017-2018 cycle to form a nationally representative sample of NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data. These data are available to the public. Please refer to the Analytic Notes section for more details on the use of the data.

The Recent Tobacco Use (SMQRTU) data set provides details on use of cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and other forms of tobacco, including e-cigarette use, as well as nicotine replacement therapies in the past 5 days.

Eligible Sample

All participants aged 12 years and older in the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic sample were eligible. For participants aged 12-17, no proxy interviews were eligible. 

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

Questions were administered at the Mobile Examination Center (MEC) during the personal (MEC) Interview. Adults 18 years and older, were asked questions by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. For youths 12-17 years, questions were self-administered using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) system, in English and Spanish only.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The CAPI and ACASI systems are programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire.

Data Processing and Editing

Edits were made to ensure completeness, consistency, and analytic usefulness of the data. A variable, SMAQUEX was created as a flag to designate each interview mode and age group.

Analytic Notes

The COVID-19 pandemic required suspension of NHANES 2019-2020 field operations in March 2020 after data were collected in 18 of the 30 survey locations in the 2019-2020 sample. Because the collected data from 18 locations were not nationally representative, these data were combined with data from the previous cycle (2017-2018) to create a 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. A special weighting process was applied to the 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. The examination sample weights in the demographic data file should be used to calculate estimates for this combined data file. These sample weights are not appropriate for independent analyses of the 2019-2020 data and will not yield nationally representative results for either the 2017-2018 data alone or the 2019-March 2020 data alone. Please refer to the NHANES website for additional information for the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data, and for the previous 2017-2018 public use data file with specific weights for that 2-year cycle.

Additional questions on recent tobacco use including use of dissolvables, snus, and e-cigarettes were administered beginning in 2013-2014. At that time, separate questions about categories of tobacco categories “smoked,” “smokeless,” and “nicotine replacement products (adults 18+ years)” also were introduced. In recent cycles, details on use of some tobacco products were excluded, and question wording was edited. It is recommended that analysts review codebooks and documentation for question additions and deletions, changes to variable names, question wording, and skip patterns. Variable names from previous NHANES cycles were maintained when possible, and therefore may not match current question naming on questionnaire instruments. Prior to 2005-2006, the SMQRTU was named SMQMEC.

SMDANY: A summary variable for any tobacco use in the past 5 days. For adults 18+ years, this was based on responses to three questions on tobacco use (smoke, smokeless, nicotine replacement therapy products) (SMQ681, SMQ851, SMQ863). For youths 12-17 years, SMDANY was based on responses to SMQ681 and SMQ851 (smoke and smokeless).

SMQ690H: Use of e-cigarettes and other electronic devices was asked as a separate question during NHANES 2019-March 2020: “During the past 5 days, including today, did you use e-cigarettes? You may also know them as JUUL(TM), vape-pens, vapes, hookah-pens, e-hookahs, or vaporizers. These are battery-powered, usually contain liquid nicotine, and produce vapor instead of smoke?” In this data release, responses have been concatenated with the 2017-2018 question responses to prevent any possible disclosure of the data collection period.

SMQ690K: Users of other smokeless products were grouped due to limited numbers of counts for specific products. In 2019- March 2020, “dip” was included as an option.

Related questions on cigarette and tobacco use are located in the SMQ, SMQFAM and SMQSHS data files. Biomarkers for tobacco exposure including serum cotinine, are found in NHANES laboratory data files.

Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues.

Codebook and Frequencies

SEQN - Respondent sequence number

Variable Name:
SEQN
SAS Label:
Respondent sequence number
English Text:
Respondent sequence number.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS

SMQ681 - Smoked tobacco last 5 days?

Variable Name:
SMQ681
SAS Label:
Smoked tobacco last 5 days?
English Text:
The following questions ask about use of tobacco products in the past 5 days. During the past 5 days, including today, did you smoke cigarettes, pipes, cigars, little cigars or cigarillos, water pipes, hookahs, or e-cigarettes?
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 1911 1911
2 No 7831 9742 SMQ851
7 Refused 0 9742 SMQ851
9 Don't know 0 9742 SMQ851
. Missing 667 10409

SMQ690A - Used last 5 days - Cigarettes

Variable Name:
SMQ690A
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Cigarettes
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Cigarettes 1496 1496
77 Refused 0 1496
99 Don't know 0 1496
. Missing 8913 10409

SMQ710 - # days smoked cigarettes last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ710
SAS Label:
# days smoked cigarettes last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} smoke cigarettes?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 1495 1495
7 Refused 0 1495
9 Don't know 1 1496
. Missing 8913 10409

SMQ720 - # cigarettes smoked per day

Variable Name:
SMQ720
SAS Label:
# cigarettes smoked per day
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on the days {you/he/she} smoked, how many cigarettes did {you/he/she} smoke each day?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF CIGARETTES. IF 95 OR MORE CIGARETTES PER DAY, ENTER 95.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 95
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 40 Range of Values 1495 1495
95 95 or more 1 1496
777 Refused 0 1496
999 Don't know 0 1496
. Missing 8913 10409

SMQ725 - When did resp. smoke last cigarette?

Variable Name:
SMQ725
SAS Label:
When did resp. smoke last cigarette?
English Text:
When did {you/he/she} smoke {your/his/her} last cigarette? Was it...
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Today 1164 1164
2 Yesterday 233 1397
3 3 to 5 days ago 97 1494
7 Refused 0 1494
9 Don't know 0 1494
. Missing 8915 10409

SMQ690B - Used last 5 days - Pipes

Variable Name:
SMQ690B
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Pipes
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
2 Pipes 14 14
. Missing 10395 10409

SMQ740 - # days smoked pipe over last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ740
SAS Label:
# days smoked pipe over last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} smoke a pipe?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 14 14
7 Refused 0 14
9 Don't know 0 14
. Missing 10395 10409

SMQ690C - Used last 5 days - Cigars

Variable Name:
SMQ690C
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Cigars
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
3 Cigars or little cigars or cigarilllos 304 304
. Missing 10105 10409

SMQ770 - # days smoked cigars over last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ770
SAS Label:
# days smoked cigars over last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} smoke regular cigars, cigarillos, or little filtered cigars?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 304 304
7 Refused 0 304
9 Don't know 0 304
. Missing 10105 10409

SMQ690G - Used last 5 days - Hookah, water pipes

Variable Name:
SMQ690G
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Hookah, water pipes
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
7 Water pipes or Hookahs 41 41
. Missing 10368 10409

SMQ845 - # days smoked water pipe last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ845
SAS Label:
# days smoked water pipe last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} smoke tobacco in a water pipe or Hookah?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 41 41
7 Refused 0 41
9 Don't know 0 41
. Missing 10368 10409

SMQ690H - Used last 5 days - E-cigarettes

Variable Name:
SMQ690H
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - E-cigarettes
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
8 E-cigarettes 267 267
. Missing 10142 10409

SMQ849 - # days smoked e-cigarette last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ849
SAS Label:
# days smoked e-cigarette last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} smoke an e-cigarette?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 267 267
7 Refused 0 267
9 Don't know 0 267
. Missing 10142 10409

SMQ851 - Used smokeless tobacco last 5 days?

Variable Name:
SMQ851
SAS Label:
Used smokeless tobacco last 5 days?
English Text:
Smokeless tobacco products are placed in the mouth or nose and include chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, snus, or dissolvable tobacco. During the past 5 days, including today, did {you/he/she} use any smokeless tobacco? (Please do not include nicotine replacement products like patches, gum, lozenge, or spray which are considered products to help {you/him/her} stop smoking.)
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 156 156
2 No 9584 9740 SMQ863
7 Refused 1 9741 SMQ863
9 Don't know 0 9741 SMQ863
. Missing 668 10409

SMQ690D - Used last 5 days - Chewing tobacco

Variable Name:
SMQ690D
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Chewing tobacco
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
4 Chewing tobacco 66 66
99 Don't know 1 67
. Missing 10342 10409

SMQ800 - # days used chewing tobacco last 5 day

Variable Name:
SMQ800
SAS Label:
# days used chewing tobacco last 5 day
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} use chewing tobacco, such as Redman, Levi Garrett or Beechnut?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 66 66
7 Refused 0 66
9 Don't know 0 66
. Missing 10343 10409

SMQ690E - Used last 5 days - Snuff

Variable Name:
SMQ690E
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Snuff
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
5 Snuff 60 60
. Missing 10349 10409

SMQ817 - # days used snuff over last 5 days

Variable Name:
SMQ817
SAS Label:
# days used snuff over last 5 days
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} use snuff, such as Skoal, Skoal Bandits, or Copenhagen?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 60 60
7 Refused 0 60
9 Don't know 0 60
. Missing 10349 10409

SMQ690K - Used last 5 days - Other smokeless

Variable Name:
SMQ690K
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Other smokeless
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
11 Other Smokeless 29 29
. Missing 10380 10409

SMQ863 - Used nicotine replacement last 5 days?

Variable Name:
SMQ863
SAS Label:
Used nicotine replacement last 5 days?
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, did {you/he/she} use any nicotine replacement therapy products such as nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers, or nasal sprays?
Target:
Both males and females 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 37 37
2 No 8334 8371 SMDANY
7 Refused 0 8371 SMDANY
9 Don't know 0 8371 SMDANY
. Missing 2038 10409

SMQ690F - Used last 5 days - Patch, gum, other

Variable Name:
SMQ690F
SAS Label:
Used last 5 days - Patch, gum, other
English Text:
Which of these products did {you/he/she} use?
English Instructions:
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY). Verbal instructions to respondent: Please select all that you used.
Target:
Both males and females 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
6 Nicotine patches, gum, or other nicotine replacement therapy product 37 37
. Missing 10372 10409

SMQ830 - # days used nicotine quit smoking aids?

Variable Name:
SMQ830
SAS Label:
# days used nicotine quit smoking aids?
English Text:
During the past 5 days, including today, on how many days did {you/he/she} use any nicotine replacement therapy products such as nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers, or nasal sprays?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF DAYS.
Target:
Both males and females 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Hard Edits:
1 to 5
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 5 Range of Values 37 37
7 Refused 0 37
9 Don't know 0 37
. Missing 10372 10409

SMDANY - Used any tobacco product last 5 days?

Variable Name:
SMDANY
SAS Label:
Used any tobacco product last 5 days?
English Text:
Used any tobacco product last 5 days?
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 2041 2041
2 No 7699 9740
7 Refused 0 9740
9 Don't know 0 9740
. Missing 669 10409

SMAQUEX - Questionnaire Mode Flag

Variable Name:
SMAQUEX
SAS Label:
Questionnaire Mode Flag
English Text:
Questionnaire Mode Flag.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 ACASI B(12 - 17 Yrs.) 1444 1444
2 MEC CAPI B(18 - 150 Yrs.) 8965 10409
. Missing 0 10409