Introduction: The Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada—hypertension component (SLCDC-H) is a 20-minute cross-sectional telephone survey on hypertension diagnosis and management. Sampled from the 2008 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), the SLCDC-H includes Canadians (aged ≥ 20 years) with self-reported hypertension from the ten provinces.

Methods: The questionnaire was developed by Delphi technique, externally reviewed and qualitatively tested. Statistics Canada performed sampling strategies, recruitment, data collection and processing. Proportions were weighted to represent the Canadian population, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were derived by bootstrap method.

Results: Compared with the CCHS population reporting hypertension, the SLCDC-H sample (n = 6142) is slightly younger (SLCDC-H mean age: 61.2 years, 95% CI: 60.8–61.6; CCHS mean age: 62.2 years, 95% CI: 61.8–62.5), has more post-secondary school graduates (SLCDC-H: 52.0%, 95% CI: 49.7%–54.2%; CCHS: 47.5%, 95% CI: 46.1%–48.9%) and has fewer respondents on hypertension medication (SLCDC-H: 82.5%, 95% CI: 80.9%–84.1%; CCHS: 88.6%, 95% CI: 87.7%-89.6%).

Conclusion: Overall, the 2009 SLCDC-H represents its source population and provides novel, comprehensive data on the diagnosis and management of hypertension. The survey has been adapted to other chronic conditions—diabetes, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and neurological conditions. The questionnaire is available on the Statistics Canada website; descriptive results have been disseminated by the Public Health Agency of Canada