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Hospitalization Down 1 Yr. After Smoke Ban

Posted on: Saturday, 29 September 2007, 03:00 CDT

During the first year of a comprehensive smoking ban enacted in New York state in 2003, there were thousands fewer hospital admissions for heart attack.

Researchers at the New York State Department of Health in Albany, N.Y.; RTI in Research Triangle Park, N.C.; and Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.; analyzed trends in county-level, age-adjusted, monthly hospital admission rates for acute myocardial infarction -- heart attack -- and stroke from 1995 to 2004.

The researchers used regression models to adjust for the effects of pre-existing smoking restrictions -- smoking had been restricted in most public places -- seasonal trends in admissions, differences across counties and secular trends.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found there were some 3,800 fewer hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction than would have been expected in the absence of the comprehensive smoking ban -- resulting in healthcare cost savings of $56 million in 2004. However, there was no reduction in the number of admissions for stroke.

First author Harlan R. Juster said the study confirms previous findings and provides a measure of the effect of comprehensive smoking bans on hospital admission rates.

Source: United Press International

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