PATH Study Data Access

New PATH Study Data Files for W7.5 and Enhanced W6/7 Location Data

The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study has released two new data sets, including an innovative data type for researchers on locale that can provide a fresh resource for research questions.

The Wave 7.5 Special Collection Public-Use Files are now available from FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products and NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. These Wave 7.5 files contain questionnaire data from youth (12-17 years old) and young adults (18-22 years old) collected between April 2023 and December 2023. Adult and youth/parent Location Characteristics Restricted-Use Files from Wave 6 (2021) and Wave 7 (2022–2023) have also been released. These variables characterize a respondent's neighborhood of residence as one of four basic locale types: City, Suburban, Town, or Rural. Providing an enhanced measure of a respondent’s location improves the ability of researchers to understand relationships between tobacco use behaviors and community characteristics. Researchers are encouraged to submit a request to obtain data access.

In addition to these newly released data files, the Wave 7.5 Special Collection Restricted-Use Files were also made available in April 2025. Researchers may continue to request access to the Wave 1-Wave 7 Restricted-Use Files and Biomarker Restricted-Use Files. Data and documentation from the Public-Use Files are also available for download with updated Master Linkage Files.

The PATH Study is a household-based, nationally representative, longitudinal study of youth (12-17 years old) and adults in the United States. The study was launched in 2011 to inform FDA’s regulatory activities under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Questions about the collection, content, weighting, documentation, or structure of PATH Study data may be submitted to PATHDataUserQuestions@Westat.com.