• Component Description
• Eligible Sample
• Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
• Quality Assurance & Quality Control
• Data Processing and Editing
• Analytic Notes
• Codebook
  • SEQN - Respondent sequence number
  • SMQ020 - Smoked at least 100 cigarettes in life
  • SMD030 - Age started smoking cigarettes regularly
  • SMQ040 - Do you now smoke cigarettes
  • SMQ050Q - How long since quit smoking cigarettes
  • SMQ050U - Unit of measure (day/week/month/year)
  • SMD055 - Age last smoked cigarettes regularly
  • SMD057 - # cigarettes smoked per day when quit
  • SMQ077 - How soon after waking do you smoke
  • SMD641 - # days smoked cigs during past 30 days
  • SMD650 - Avg # cigarettes/day during past 30 days
  • SMD093 - May I please see the pack of cigarettes
  • SMDUPCA - Cig 12-digit Universal Product Code-UPC
  • SMD100BR - Cigarette Brand/sub-brand
  • SMD100FL - Filter type
  • SMD100MN - Menthol indicator
  • SMD100LN - Length
  • SMD100TR - FTC Tar Content
  • SMD100NI - FTC Nicotine Content
  • SMD100CO - FTC Carbon Monoxide Content
  • SMQ620 - Ever tried cigarette smoking
  • SMD630 - Age first smoked whole cigarette
  • SMQ660 - Brands of cigarettes smoked/past mo
  • SMQ664M - Menthol or non-menthol Marlboro
  • SMQ664C - Menthol or non-menthol Camels
  • SMQ664W - Menthol or non-menthol Winston
  • SMQ664B - Menthol or non-menthol BensonHedges
  • SMQ664O - Menthol or non-menthol other brand
  • SMQ666M - Regular, light or ultralite Marlboro
  • SMQ666C - Regular, light or ultralite Camels
  • SMQ666K - Regular, light or ultralite Kools
  • SMQ666W - Regular, light or ultralite Winston
  • SMQ666B - Regular, light or ultralite BensonHedges
  • SMQ666S - Regular, light or ultralite Salem
  • SMQ666O - Regular, light or ultralite other brand
  • SMQ670 - Tried to quit smoking
  • SMAQUEX2 - Questionnaire Mode Flag
• Appendix: Variable names across cycles

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2009-2010 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Smoking - Cigarette Use (SMQ_F)

Data File: SMQ_F.xpt

First Published: September 2011

Last Revised: May 2015

Component Description

This smoking data file provides data on cigarette use; history of use, age at initiation, current use, past 30 day prevalence, amount, cigarette brand and other related details. It combines data from separate questionnaires asked of youth and adults.

Eligible Sample

All survey participants 12 years and older were eligible.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

For Adults 20 and older, questions were asked, in the home, by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) system.

For youths 12-19 years, the questions were asked at the Mobile Examination Center (MEC) during the MEC Interview using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing (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

The data were reviewed and edited for completeness, consistency and illogical values. Note that because data are self-reported, there may still be inconsistencies in the data. For example, some adult respondents reported smoking as often as “everyday” in SMQ040, but reported smoking fewer than 30 days in SMQ080. Analysts should review responses to questions carefully prior to analysis.

The cigarette brand was verified using the uniform product codes (UPC) found on the cigarette data pack shown to interviewers by the survey participant. As part of the data processing effort, UPCs were matched to an updated UPC cigarette data base consisting of ACNielsen cigarette listings with detailed product descriptions for domestic and imported cigarettes sold in the United States (as of December 2010). Domestic cigarettes were also linked with machine-measured tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide content data obtained from the Federal Trade Commission. The data base was prepared for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health by Research Triangle Institute (RTI).

Analytic Notes

SMAQUEX2: This variable can be used to determine mode of interview. 1 = Household interview (adults 20+ years); 2 = MEC ACASI interview (youth 12-19 years). Data about cigarette use from questionnaires in the household and the MEC interview are combined for this data file.

The questions of cigarette use for 12 to 19 year olds were asked in the MEC, so the exam sample weights (WTMEC2YR) should be used for the analyses of youth data. For adults 20 years and older, the cigarette use questionnaire data were collected as part of the NHANES Household Questionnaire Interview, so the interview weights (WTINT2YR) should be used if only adults data is analyzed. If both youth and adults data are analyzed together or if the adult data are merged with other MEC exam data, exam sample weights (WTMEC2YR) should be used for the analyses.

Additional data related to smoking and tobacco use are available in other data files. The SMQRTU file has data on recent tobacco use collected during the MEC Interview for both youth and adults. The SMQFAM file has data about exposure to tobacco in the home. Note that for three data release cycles (1999-2004), all of the tobacco use data obtained for youths during the MEC ACASI interview were released in the SMQMEC data files, and tobacco use data for adults was released in both SMQ and SMQMEC data files.  However, beginning in 2005-2006, the data release format was altered, combining data collection modes, and dividing the data by topic for all ages between two files: SMQ (cigarette use only) and SMQ_RTU (recent tobacco use). Therefore, when analysts are combining multiple years of tobacco data it is critical to refer all tobacco-related codebooks and carefully review the target age for each variable in the relevant 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