Chronic Disease - CDNR Fall 2004 - Heart Disease and Stroke: Smoking Bans Can Reduce Heart Attacks

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Chronic Disease Notes and Reports

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Volume 17 • Number 1 • Fall 2004

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Smoking Bans Can Reduce Heart Attacks

Photo of cigarettes Helena, Montana, drew the attention of CDC scientists who study heart disease and the health effects of smoking when a clean air ordinance banning smoking in public was rescinded after being in effect for 6 months. That’s when hospital admissions for heart attack, which had dropped by 40%, rebounded after the ordinance was suspended.*

Terry Pechacek, PhD, Associate Director for Science in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), and Stephen Babb, MPH, Coordinator of OSH’s Secondhand Smoke Work Group, say that even half an hour’s exposure to secondhand smoke could significantly increase the chance of having a heart attack. They warned that nonsmokers should avoid enclosed areas where smoking is permitted, noting that the study supports other evidence that tobacco smoke, by causing blood to clot, can trigger heart attacks in some people.

“We would never design a randomized study that assigned nonsmokers to either frequent exposure to secondhand smoke or no exposure because of the obvious danger to participants,” said Dr. Pechacek, “but the Helena natural experiment does dramatically demonstrate the cardiovascular risks of exposure to secondhand smoke.” He emphasized the need to replicate the results measuring the reduction in exposure levels resulting from such ordinances and to confirm expected size of the prevention effects on heart attack rates.

*Sargent RP, Shephard RM, Glantz SA. Reduced incidence of admissions for myocardial infarction associated with public smoking ban: before and after study. BMJ 2004;328:977–980.

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Chronic Disease Notes & Reports is published by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. The contents are in the public domain.
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH
Acting Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion George A. Mensah, MD, FACP, FACC, FESC
Managing Editor Teresa Ramsey	Copy Editor Diana Toomer
Staff Writers Amanda Crowell, Linda Elsner, Valerie Johnson, Mark Harrison, Phyllis Moir, Teresa Ramsey, Diana Toomer
Guest Writer Linda Orgain
Address correspondence to Managing Editor, Chronic Disease Notes & Reports, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mail Stop K–11, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717; 770/488-5050, fax 770/488-5095 E-mail: ccdinfo@cdc.gov NCCDPHP Internet Web site: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp

This page last reviewed August 30, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion