• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Smoking Ban Decreases Heart Risk

Posted on: Thursday, 1 January 2009, 07:46 CST

Colorado residents in Pueblo experienced a dramatic drop in heart attack hospital visits, and long-term research links the change to a smoking ban.

Three years after the ban of workplace smoking went into affect, the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent.

Researchers found there was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a big sign the ban was responsible.

The study concludes secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, according to author Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Critics questioned whether a ban could have such an immediate impact, and suggested other factors could have driven the declines.

"This study is very dramatic," said Dr. Michael Thun, a researcher with the American Cancer Society.

"This is now the ninth study, so it is clear that smoke-free laws are one of the most effective and cost-effective to reduce heart attacks," said Thun.

Experts say smoking bans are designed to reduce secondhand tobacco smoke- a widely recognized cause of lung cancer-that increases the kind of blood clotting that leads to heart attacks.

"You remove the final one or two links in the chain" of events leading to a heart attack, Thun said.

The CDC reports that secondhand smoke causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and about 3,000 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers each year.

Researchers found in Pueblo, the rate of heart attacks dropped from 257 per 100,000 people before the ban to 152 per 100,000 in the three years afterward.
 
---

On the Net:

• CDC
• American Cancer Society

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category